Residents in fix as fresh cracks emerge in Bowbazar houses due to tunnel-boring

Kolkata: Residents of Gour Dey Lane are in a fix after fresh cracks developed inside their houses due to underground tunneling work for East-West Metro in the Bowbazar area on Thursday.

"Today morning, we noticed fresh cracks at our house. The engineer of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), the executing agency of the East-West Metro project, came for inspection in our area and gave verbal assurance that there is no threat of house collapse. KMRCL has not given us house evacuation notice but shifted us to a hotel," said Purnima Bera, a resident of 3, Gour Dey Lane.

It might be mentioned that as a safety measure, KMRCL has issued statutory notices to residents in the BowBazar area, to avoid any untoward incident before starting the tunnel-boring work.

The work, which was put on hold after the machine hit an aquifer on August 31, 2019 at Bowbazar area leading to severe ground subsidence and collapse of nearby buildings, was allowed to resume by the High Court on February 11.

"At around 1 am on March 12, the floor of premise number 4C of Gour Dey Lane started cracking. Resident of 4C Gour Dey Lane Sadhan Pradhan, who is my maternal uncle, was shifted to a different place," said Subho Bera, a resident of 3, Gour Dey Lane.

According to KMRCL sources, checks for cracks in buildings on the tunnel route of East-West Metro between Bowbazar and Sealdah and soil subsidence is being carried out at present.