Kolkata: A portion of an old dilapidated building in Hatibagan collapsed on Tuesday morning due to heavy rains. No one was injured.
Senior police and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials visited the spot and conducted an inquiry. The Demolition Squad of KMC started pulling down the insecure portion.
The dilapidated building is situated at 3, Hemendra Sen Street. Hearing a loud gong on Tuesday morning, local people rushed to the spot and found that a portion of the old structure had collapsed. They informed the police and fire brigade.
The debris of the old structure had blocked the underground car park of an adjacent building.
Mohan Kumar Gupta, coordinator of ward 17 said that the building had remained vacant for many years.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation had declared the building as insecure and issued notice. He said the house had not been repaired for many years by the owners following court cases. Gupta oversaw the demolition operation.
This was the eighth incident of collapse of old structures during heavy rains.
Senior civic officials said as the houses had not been maintained properly, the rain water pipes got chocked. As a result the roof got filled with water. This puts additional weight on the pillars which fails to bear the weight.
Due to lack of maintenance the bricks become spongy. They said despite notices, the owners of many old and dilapidated houses refuse to vacate them or repair them. They maintained that such buildings had posed serious threat to the adjoining houses.