india

Updated: Sep 03, 2019 01:15 IST

Cracks were detected in more houses on Monday in central Kolkata’s congested Bowbazar a day after two old buildings collapsed and around 20 houses were damaged in the area, forcing authorities to shift hundreds of residents to hotels.

Officials said tremors created when an underground water pocket was accidentally hit during boring work for the East-West Metro project, which will connect Howrah to Salt Lake, led to the disaster. A part of the tunnel being built for the project runs under the Hooghly river. It is the first such tunnel in the country

The railways has stopped the work on the project and moved 254 residents of the area to hotels. Till Monday, 375 people were shifted.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the area on Monday and met the displaced residents and railway engineers.

“The evacuation was done on time and no life was lost. Humanity comes first. There is no place for politics here. We will offer full cooperation to the metro authorities in rehabilitating these people. I have convened a meeting on Tuesday,” said Banerjee.

Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (KMRCL) separately sealed the tunnel and started pumping out water and sludge.

Pratyush Lahiri, whose house was among those which development fresh cracks on Monday, said he was living in fear. “The future looks uncertain,” he said.

Most of the houses in Bowbazar, the oldest part of Kolkata, are at least a century-old and the structures stand very close to each other. As a result, damage to one building usually affects the adjacent one too.

Residents said they felt the tremors around 6 pm on Saturday and sought evacuation. Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim met KMRCL officials, including its managing director Manas Sarkar, on Sunday when residents of a number of old buildings on B B Ganguly Street, Sankharipara Lane and Durga Pithuri Lane were evacuated.

Hakim and Sarkar told journalists that immediate as well as long-term plans have been made for the affected residents. “Municipal engineers have examined the damages and 18 buildings have been identified as dangerous. The police will not allow anyone to enter these buildings. Since their residents moved out, leaving everything behind, police are being deployed to secure the premises,” Hakim said.

Authorities have put up residents of the 18 buildings at hotels for four-five days and said KMRCL will bear the expenses. The KMRCL will arrange for apartments on rent to shift the evacuated residents to.

“The rental accommodation will be provided by KMRCL until the houses are repaired or rebuild. This could take seven to eight months,” Hakim said.

A control room has been set up in the area where engineers, police officers and disaster management personnel will be present to assist the affected residents.

“The entire responsibility is ours and we will bear all the expenses incurred towards alternative accommodation as well as repair and reconstruction of the damaged buildings,” Sarkar said.

“Four-five houses have been badly damaged but we have decided to evacuate 13 buildings as a precautionary measure. In all, 254 persons have been taken to hotels.”

Hakim said that Kolkata civic body’s engineers have identified five more buildings that can be considered dangerous. He said power connections will be restored to all houses, except the affected 18, after engineers examine the structures.

Sarkar ruled out the possibility of any flaw in the East-West Metro plan. “The boring progressed smoothly for a kilometre and a half. It had no impact on five-storeyed buildings, including some heritage structures, during the previous leg of the work,” Sarkar said. He said the houses in Bowbazar got damaged after water started gushing into the tunnel and soil caved in. “The water pressure was extremely high and led to the mishap,” he added.

“Keeping this incident in mind, technical parameters for tunnel boring will be set afresh,” said KMRCL chief engineer Biswanath Dewanjee.

Dilip Sen, a resident, said they have been provided accommodation but the metro authorities have not instructed the hotel owners to provide them food. “We do not have enough cash to pay food bills.”

“The Metro authorities repeatedly assured us that our houses were safe. It is evident that they were careless. We were given no indication that trouble could be coming,” said Biswanath Dutta, another resident.