An old horror returned to Bowbazar on Thursday night as underground water leakage triggered by the East-West Metro construction forced the evacuation of more than 50 residents from six homes.

With this, Bowbazar has seen four incidents of water seepage since August 2019.

The people, including the old and infirm, had to leave at a short notice on Thursday night and early on Friday.

The seepage, blamed on the soil condition, was first spotted while connecting the Howrah-bound tunnel with a cross-passage, said officials of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency of the 16km East-West Metro, which will connect Howrah Maidan with Sector V when fully functional.

The passage is connected to the evacuation shaft through which passengers will climb to safety during an emergency.

“The seepage was first spotted after 10.30pm. We did not want to take any chances and evacuated 52 people from 11 families living in six homes,” said A.K. Nandi, general manager (administration), KMRC.

The latest seepage came after the KMRC wrote to the residents — temporarily relocated for the construction of the cross-passage — to return home as work was completed before time.

In an earlier communication, many residents were told to vacate their homes as a “precautionary measure” from “10am of August 26 to 10am of September 5” for the “work of egress shaft cross-passage”.

Another notice, issued on September 2, said: “As the work of cross passage has been completed, you are requested to return to your own residence with immediate effect.” The letter is signed by a KMRC official.

“We got a call from the KMRC around 12.45am. We were asked to leave in 15 minutes. Imagine doing this with a 90-year-old grandmother,” said Deep Malakar, 34, who lives on BB Ganguly Street.

The east-west corridor is now operational in two sections, between Sector V and Sealdah and between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade.

At an interaction with KMRC officials, the anguish and frustration of Bowbazar residents came to the fore.

“You are sleeping at your own home, sir. But we cannot,” a man, who lived on Syakrapara Lane, told Anuj Mittal, the managing director of the agency. “You can relocate us, rebuild and repair our homes and even pay us monetary compensation. But how can you compensate for our stress and anguish of five years?” said a woman who lives in Durga Pithuri Lane.

Talking to reporters later, KMRC officials blamed the latest incident on an old and familiar foe — the soil in the Bowbazar area.

“The soil condition is to blame. We have built 15km of the corridor and we are stuck with 200m for five years. But now we are towards the end of the problem,” said Mittal.

The seepage has been arrested with grouting and the area is being kept under observation, KMRC officials said. “We will watch for 48 hours and then take a call on bringing the residents back,” said an official.

Local councillor Biswarup Dey read out a list of grievances on behalf of the residents. They want written assurances on the fitness of thesoil, including reports ofstudies conducted by IITRoorkee and JadavpurUniversity, a time-boundcommitment on the construction of the new homesand their delivery and more compensation.

Mittal promised to set up a committee, including residents, to look into the demands by next Friday.