Nine buildings in Bowbazar have been tagged as “severely damaged” by a team that assessed the stability of buildings in the area affected by subsidence caused by East-West Metro work earlier this month.
The team of current and former professors from Jadavpur University’s civil engineering department submitted its report to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Tuesday. More buildings in the affected area will be surveyed.
A member of the team told The Telegraph that nine buildings had been “severely damaged” and the KMC or Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency of East-West Metro, should evacuate all residents from them before the Metro tunneling work resumes.
The severely damaged buildings are 2, 2/1, 2/2, 3, 4, 6B, 10A, 10B and 19/1/A Durga Pituri Lane. A part of 6 Durga Pituri Lane is also severely damaged.
Himadri Guha, a former professor of civil engineering at Jadavpur University and member of the survey team, said some buildings were in “distressed condition” and not fit for habitation.
“We will conduct further investigations to see whether repairs are possible in these buildings to make them habitable or if they are beyond repair. Such investigations will need time,” he said.
The JU team has said in its report that the number of severely damaged buildings is likely to increase “when more buildings shall be included in the study”.
The report, called “first information report”, has called for quick completion of work on the underground East-West Metro tunnel. “This is to be noted that the early completion of Metro tunneling is desirable because delay in work might induce additional settlement,” the report says.
“We haven’t yet said that the (severely damaged) buildings should be demolished. We want to explore all options before giving a conclusive opinion. But this report should alert the KMC and the KMRC…” Guha said.