Kolkata, May 13 (PTI) The Kolkata Metro Railway has been asked to test the soil condition in Bowbazar to decide the fate of the buildings that have developed major cracks, the city’s mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.
The buildings cannot be razed suddenly without consulting experts and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has already appointed a committee of specialists from Jadavpur University to examine the stability of the buildings in the affected area at Durga Pithuri Lane, he said.
“Ours is a land composed of silt. We need to find the current situation under the ground and that is why we have asked Metro Railway authorities to appoint earth experts to evaluate it,” Hakim told PTI.
It is not a good idea to rebuild the houses without proper soil testing, he said.
“They (KMRC) should see how much water has seeped inside, which could be dangerous for the construction of Metro as well … We need reports from earth experts, because even if we rebuild the affected houses, they may not be intact for the next 50 years. These are old buildings, so even a small disturbance underneath causes damages to the structure,” Hakim said.
At least 12 buildings in the congested central Kolkata locality developed major cracks on Wednesday night, following which 232 people were moved to different hotels.
Water had entered the Howrah-bound under-construction tunnel of the East-West Metro from water pockets created due to heavy rains trigerred by Cyclone Asani. This resulted in the washing away of soil and sand, causing structural damage to the buildings, a senior KMC engineer had said.
The mayor, who held a meeting with the local councillor, MLA and senior officials of the civic body, said the decision on whether to demolish and rebuild the houses depends on the report of the experts.
“We will not come to any conclusion unless Jadavpur University experts give us their findings on which buildings can be repaired and which need to be rebuilt. As of now we have no idea how many buildings will need to be rebuilt. We will hold talks at the chief secretary-level. There will be regular soil investigation as there is need to see whether the soil is settling or not,” he said.
There will be continuous monitoring of soil settlement and KMRC, which was on Friday asked to submit the design drawing, soil investigation and survey report, grouting and post grouting report, have sought a few days’ time, he said..
KMRC authorities, the mayor said, have agreed to look into rehabilitating the jewellery shop owners of the area who have been affected to a new place.
“The local problem will be looked into by KMRC from Monday. They will look into the problems faced by the locals, their temporary habitat and we (KMC) will look into the technicalities,” he said.
Hakim said that the KMRC has also assured of looking into complaints of cement and chemical waters from the Metro construction site choking drains in Bowbazar area.
KMC building department engineers have already inspected the buildings which have developed cracks, besides checking the condition of the neighbouring houses.
In August 2019, a tunnel boring machine had hit an aquifer leading to severe ground subsidence and collapse of several buildings in the same area.
Construction in the area is underway for the East-West Metro project, which will connect the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata. The Metro construction work was suspended following the incident. PTI SCH KK KK KK
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