Kolkata: Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim on Monday set a September-October 2026 deadline for Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd (KMRCL) in completion of construction of the 24 houses at Bowbazar that were damaged due to repeated subsidence incidents during East-West Metro tunnelling work since 2019.
The Mayor chaired a meeting with senior officials of KMRCL in presence of local MLA Nayna Bandyopadhyay, councillor Biswarup Dey, representative of the damaged buildings and other concerned KMC officials at the civic body headquarters. “The building construction will start latest by October and it is expected to be completed within 9 months. The KMRCL will provide us with a progress report of the construction work every three months which will be verified by our engineers,” Hakim told reporters after the meeting.
The families who have been rendered destitute are presently living in rented accommodations or with relatives for the past six years and are now desperate to get back to their homes. It is learnt that Hakim has given some suggestions for speeding up the construction work like deployment of a dedicated team for construction of each of the buildings which the KMRCL have agreed. “The minutes of the meeting undersigned by all stakeholders who attended will be out soon,” added the Mayor.
The KMC has decided to appoint a team from Jadavpur University for observation of the buildings for a period of 10 years after construction and if they come across any damage due to vibration of train movement, they will inform KMC and accordingly, KMRCL will do the repair work, if needed.
The sanction of the 24 new buildings to be constructed by KMRCL has already been given by the KMC.
“Our Civil and Water Supply department will simultaneously carry out estimation followed by repair work of the distribution lines associated with these buildings that have suffered damage,” said the Mayor. Councillor Biswarup De said that the KMRCL had asked for more time for the construction work, but the Mayor was strict about the deadline considering the hardships faced by the residents for six years. A senior KMRCL official said that the meeting has been held on a positive note but refused to divulge any outcome before the minutes of the meeting is completed.