Work on partial demolition of two buildings in Bowbazar’s Durga Pituri Lane in central Kolkata that had developed cracks will start on Monday, officials of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), implementing agency of East-West Metro, said on Sunday.
If needed, officials of the agency said, the buildings — 16 and 16/1 Durga Pituri Lane — could be completely demolished.
“We will start with these two buildings immediately. For the rest, we will wait for the report of the committee of Jadavpur University experts and proceed according to its recommendation,” said C.N. Jha, managing director of KMRC.
The underground East-West Metro work is believed to be responsible for the appearance of cracks in buildings in Durga Pituri Lane, for the second time in three years.
“Before the demolition starts, the four families who have been staying in the two buildings will be given time to remove their belongings. We will provide personnel to help the residents remove their belongings,” a KMRC official said.
The families shifted to hotels, arranged by KMRC, after the appearance of the cracks.
A list of items to be removed, and stored in a KMRC godown in Bagbazar, will be drawn up in the presence of representatives of the families before the shifting starts.
“Apart from these two buildings, the one at 15 Durga Pituri Lane has been declared dangerous, too, by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). We will request the KMC to give us the permission to pull down this building as well,” said Rupak Sarkar, an official of ITD-ITD Cementation, the company constructing the East-West Metro tunnel.
“Another building, 14 Durga Pituri Lane, is leaning. We want to take a call on that building, too.”
On Sunday, a team of KMRC officials visited Durga Pituri Lane and held discussions with local MLA Nayana Bandopadhayay and councillor Biswarup Dey to decide on the course of action.
“Engineers and other officials of KMRC will be present in my office from noon to 4pm every day to answer residents’ queries,” Dey said.
