A portion of a two-storey building on Sukeas Street in north Calcutta collapsed on Monday following the rain, highlighting once again the threat that the dilapidated buildings in the city poses.

A portion of the terrace of the building fell on the footpath. No one was injured.

A senior engineer of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said the building had been declared “dangerous” some time back.

There are close to 2,000 dangerous buildings in the city. All of them are either fully or partially dilapidated.

“We have pulled down some of the dangerous portions of the building but a banyan tree has grown deep into the walls. This tree has to be cut down before we can pull down the rest of the dangerous portion,” said the engineer.

Sadhana Bose, the councillor of Ward 38 under which the building falls, said the building had no residents but it had three shops on the ground floor.

“The shops are still running. The KMC has pulled down the dangerous portions,” she said.

“This house belongs to the family of Mahendra Sreemany. This is an abandoned house and the family members now live in another building across the road,” she said.

Mahendra Sreemany was a wealthy zamindar and Sukeas Street is now named Mahendra Sreemany Street.

A KMC engineer said they had cut down the banyan tree in some parts of the building but some branches had spread to places that were inaccessible.

“We have planned carefully to cut the tree in that section before the dangerous portions there are pulled down,” said the engineer.