Compensation being doled out to people displaced after WB Metro work fiasco

Residents and shop owners, who were recently displaced in Bowbazar here after several buildings developed cracks during work in the East-West Metro tunnel, have begun receiving compensation for the loss suffered, a senior official of the project's executing agency said on Friday.

As many as 194 people had to be evacuated from the central Kolkata locality after underground water seepage caused cracks in 12 buildings at Madan Dutta Lane there on October 14.

Compensation cheques were handed over to 11 families and six shop owners on Thursday after verification of claims, the official of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) said.

"Each of the 11 families received a cheque of Rs 5 lakh, while the compensation to the shop owners varied between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh," he said.

KMRC has shifted 25 families to hotels following the mishap in October, the third such incident due to the Metro corridor work, while six shops also had to be closed.

Earlier, on August 31, 2019, a tunnel boring machine (TBM) had hit an aquifer leading to severe ground subsidence and collapse of several buildings in Bowbazar.

At least three houses were damaged again in May this year owing to ground subsidence caused by water seepage during work for joining two tunnels one coming from the Sealdah side in the east and the other from Esplanade side on the western side.

The East West Metro corridor connecting Howrah Maidan and Sector V in Salt Lake is currently partially operational -- between Sector V station and Sealdah.

Of the 16.6-km-long East West Metro, underground corridor constitutes 10.8 km between Howrah and Phoolbagan with the tunnel passing below the Hooghly river, while the rest is elevated corridor, according to the KMRC official.