Two persons were injured as portions of two buildings collapsed on Wednesday — one at Lake Gardens and the other on Netaji Subhas Road.
Police said Piyush Mondal, 20, who was at the wheel of a Hyundai Creta, was injured when a portion of the parapet of a roof and a sunshade on the second-floor balcony of a building in Lake Gardens collapsed around 11am.
“He is the driver of the car. He suffered relatively minor injuries. The chunk of debris crashed on the car and smashed the windscreen and the roof of the vehicle,” said an officer at Lake police station.
The Telegraph tried to contact the owner of the car, but the person did not answer calls.
A senior official of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) said no one lives in the house.
Debris on Netaji Subhas Road after a portion of a building collapsed on Wednesday. Bishwarup Dutta
The other incident was reported around 8.50am. A portion of an old three-storeyed building at 1 Netaji Subhas Road collapsed.
The building is located close to Strand Road, flanked by government offices and houses several commercial establishments.
Initially, a portion of a balcony collapsed. The police and CMC officials were alerted.
However, when cops were condoning off the area with guardrails, the outdoor unit of an air conditioner collapsed from the first floor of the three-storeyed building, injuring a pedestrian.
The police identified the injured person as Sabyasachi Mahapatra, 48, a resident of Jagacha in Howrah.
He was taken to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. He was treated and discharged.
The building was evacuated and sealed. The people who worked inside the building were asked to take away their belongings.
Many who have offices in the building stood along Netaji Subhas Road and Strand Road with their laptops. Some had carried CPUs and desktop monitors, too, from the offices.
“We are not sure when we will be allowed to enter the building again. So, I took out my computer,” a man said.
CMC teams visited both spots on Wednesday.
“We have pulled down portions of both buildings that were hanging dangerously. Notices have been served for the repair of both buildings,” a CMC official said.
The city, especially central and north Calcutta, has
a number of old and crumbling buildings. Parts of such buildings collapsed in the past, leading to injuries and fatalities.
The civic official said they have pulled down dangerous portions of nearly 300 such buildings over the past year.