The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday started using an earth mover with “extreme caution” to remove the debris from the site where an under-construction building collapsed in Garden Reach on Sunday night, officials said.
The caution is necessary to prevent collapse of any adjacent building because of the vibration that an earth mover generates.
The collapse of the allegedly illegal five-storey building in Azhar Molla Bagan in Garden Reach left at least 10 persons dead and 17 injured.
Police said they are questioning the people who had booked flats in the building that collapsed. The homes of the two arrested accused — promoter Mohammad Wasim and Pappu, an owner of the plot where the building was coming up — were searched on Thursday.
Till Wednesday, the earth mover could not be used as there was no space to manoeuvre the machine. Space was created following the removal of the debris and demolition of some huts that were destroyed when the building collapsed on them.
From late on Wednesday, men deployed by a contractor pulled down the huts under the supervision of KMC engineers. Some of the debris was removed manually and a flat surface was created to allow the earth mover to anchor.
The demolition of the huts was necessary to let the scooper of the earth mover manoeuvre itself.
It has been four days since the five-storey building collapsed but the rescue teams have not yet been able to clear the site of all the rubble.
The National Disaster Response Force ended its search operation on Wednesday evening and handed the site to the KMC for “further action”.
A KMC official said on Thursday evening that a stench emanating from the site suggests that there could still be bodies under the debris.
“We are working with extreme caution. There is pressure from residents of the locality to bring out the trapped person, if there are any, quickly,” said the official.
Mini-trucks were brought as close to the collapse site as possible, through narrow lanes, to carry away the rubble. “More than 10 vehicles of rubble had been taken
away from the site till Thursday afternoon. Work will continue till late in the evening,” said an official.
Show-cause notice
The three KMC engineers who were issued show-cause notices following the collapse of the building have submitted their replies. A KMC official said the engineers have mentioned in their replies that they worked hard and identified as many illegal buildings as possible and cited excessive workload as a reason for missing the one that collapsed.
Other officials said an illegal building in the same neighbourhood had been issued a notice to stop work. “Portions of illegal buildings were demolished in the same ward recently. It is not that the engineers did not take action against,” said an official.