Four years have passed since the first cave-in in Bowbazar caused by East-West Metro construction.
But many people displaced by the subsidence have no clue when they can enter their new homes that the Metro authorities have promised to build.
Thursday marked the fourth anniversary of the disaster, triggered by a tunnel-boring machine hitting a sand aquifer.
“When we left, we were told that we would come back within two years. Then, the time was extended to four years. But till date, there is no concrete word from the KMRC on when can we return,” said Piyali Sen, who used to live in a building at 9 Syakrapara Lane.
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) is the implementing agency of the 16.5km project, which will connect Howrah Maidan and Sector V when complete.
Currently, the service is operational between Sector V and Sealdah.
Sen’s house came down in the first subsidence. The family — Sen, her mother, grandparents, brother and sister-in-law — were first taken to a hotel in central Kolkata before being shifted to a flat in Beleghata.
Her 90-year-old grandfather died in January.
“He always wanted to breathe his last at his ancestral home. He could not,” said Sen, who had come to Bowbazar on Thursday to attend a protest meet organised by the Bowbazar Mati-O-Manab Kalyan Society, a forum of residents campaigning for the families displaced by multiple instances of subsidence triggered by Metro construction.
“The biggest problem is lack of communication from the KMRC. We have every right to know the status of the construction in Bowbazar because our lives are linked to it. One meeting every month can go a along way in bringing clarity. But the Metro authorities have kept us in the dark throughout,” said Biswajit Matilal, president of the forum.
“The careless attitude of Metro authorities is making us think if we can come back ever again,” said Sanjoy Sen, secretary of the organisation.
Twenty-three houses were damaged beyond repair — many of them had collapsed — in the 2019 subsidence.
The same area has seen three accidents, causing large-scale subsidence and collapse of and cracks in many buildings, since August 31, 2019.
On May 11, 2022, the construction of a concrete structure to fill a gap — in the form of a retrieval shaft between the two tunnels of the Metro corridor — led to water leakage again.
On October 14, the same year, water seepage happened during the construction of a cross passage to link the two tunnels.
The tender for the construction of 26 new houses — including the replacement of three houses damaged in the May 2022 subsidence — was floated in October last year.
More than 40 houses have been repaired and their residents have come back, said ssa KMRC official. But more than 400 people are still living in temporary accommodations arranged by the authorities.
V.K. Srivastava, managing director of KMRC, said he was hopeful that construction of new houses would start from the middle of next year.
“We cannot start building new houses until the underground construction for an egress shaft (emergency evacuation shaft in Durga Pithuri Lane) is complete. That is expected by December,” he told The Telegraph.
Later in the evening, KMRC officials went to Bowbazar to meet the aggrieved residents and give them a “timeline”.
“We told them that construction of the evacuation shaft will be complete by December 2023. But the soil needs to be firm enough for the construction of new houses. A team from Jadavpur University will test the soil and give us a certificate. After that, we will start building new houses. That is expected to start around April 2024. The houses are expected to be completed by the middle of 2025,” said an official.