City Mayor Firhad Hakim Thursday visited Bowbazar area where cracks developed in a number of buildings, likely by the ongoing construction of the East-West Metro corridor and said an expert team headed by the director general of the building department of Calcutta Municipal Corporation will assess the damages.

The DG building will hold meetings with Calcutta Metro Rail Corporation Limited to find a way out and gauge the fitness of houses in the area, Hakim, also state minister for transport and housing, said.

He said there is negligence by CMRCL in Wednesday's incident as it had assured of taking total engineering responsibility of the area, which had seen a similar occurence about two and half years ago.

A resident shows cracks on a building, likely to have been caused by metro railway construction PTI picture

In August 2019 underground vibrations of a tunnel boring machine had damaged several old structures in the same Durga Pituri Lane when an aquifer broke during tunnel boring for the metro rail corridor and water and silt had gushed in, leading to severe sinking of the ground. People had to be shifted to nearby hotels for days.

Hakim said that the soil is apparently yet to settle in the area, which has a large number of old houses, after the incident.

"An expert committee under the DG, Building, will begin its assessment at once. Some immediate steps must be taken," he said.

State Minister For Planning and Statistics, Tapas Roy said his family which lives in the area had spent a sleepless night as the neighbouring house had developed a crack.

Residents carry their belongings as they evacuate to a safer place after major cracks appeared on the structures PTI picture

At least five houses in central Calcutta’s Bowbazar were evacuated late on Wednesday after major cracks appeared on the structures, likely to have been caused by metro railway construction in the area, police said.

A large team of Calcutta Police’s disaster management team accompanied by senior police officers and metro rail officials visited the spot at Durga Pithuri Lane, they said.

Several families have already been evacuated from the affected buildings, but some of them refused to leave their houses. Several persons, fearing further subsidence even spent the night in the open.

The evacuees have expressed anguish about the recurrence of subsidence and concern over the future of the area.

A K Nandi, GM (administration), of CMRCL said its engineers are working overnight to repair the cracks and to ensure that no such fissures take place in future.

"Our first endeavour is to repair the cracks of the affected structures and also to see that no such fissures develop in future, while work on the construction work is continuing simultaneously ".

He said around 74 persons from around five affected buildings have been shifted to three hotels nearby.

Several houses in the same area had collapsed in August 2019 when an aquifer broke during tunnel boring for the East-West Metro corridor, and water and silt gushed in, leading to severe ground subsidence.

The cracks were first spotted around 9.45 pm, officials said.

“We are evacuating the buildings. We are yet to find out how many houses have developed such cracks. As of now, there are five buildings on which cracks have appeared. Our team of experts has reached the spot,” a police officer said.

Police evacuate residents to a safer place after major cracks appeared on structures PTI picture

The 16.6-km-long East-West corridor, connecting the twin cities of Calcutta and Howrah, is under construction in the congested area, marked by several old and dilapidated structures.

A senior Calcutta Metro Railway Corporation Ltd (CMRCL) official said, “Our engineers have reached the spot. They are looking into it. Our first priority is evacuation and then we will look into the cause of the incident.” The incident brought back memories of 2019 for the locals who had to rush out of their homes amid day-long rains in the city.

“Last time, we had to leave our homes and stay in a hotel. I couldn’t even take my belongings this time. I don’t know what is in store. The entire building has tilted,” said Mallika Das, an aged resident of the area.

Local TMC MLA Nayna Bandopadhyay also visited the spot and spoke to the locals.

“We want to ensure that everyone is safe. We are in touch with the officials concerned,” she said.

Some of the residents claimed that the cracks started appearing since evening.