A portion of an old building in Muraripukur in North Kolkata collapsed on Monday morning.
Officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) went to the spot and the conservancy workers began removing the rubbles. No one has been injured. The nearly century-old building has not been repaired for decades.
Senior KMC officials said that a portion of the building collapsed as it had not been looked after properly for decades and when it
rained heavily, the affected portion could not bear it and collapsed.
Senior civic officials said old structures that had not been maintained for years were a major concern for the KMC and all the borough executive engineers had been asked to keep an eye on them.
There are over 2,000 structures where KMC had given notices asking their
inmates to vacate after declaring them as condemned. But the inmates refuse to
vacate them risking their lives. Most of these buildings are situated in North and South Kolkata, namely in Boroughs I,II,II and IV, VII, VIII and IX.
It may be mentioned that KMC has set up a committee under the joint municipal commissioner to identify old and dangerous buildings.
The KMC will give notices on the owners
requesting them to carry out repair works within a stipulated time. If the owners fail to respond, KMC will hand them over to builders who will pull them down to make room for new ones after making proper rehabilitation of the owners and tenants.
The committee has started functioning from July 1.