Calcutta HC directs Centre to file report on resuming East-

The Calcutta High Court Tuesday directed the Centre to file an expert report on resuming work of the East-West Metro corridor in the city's Bowbazar area where an acquifer burst during tunnelling work caused huge land settlement leading to the collapse of several buildings in August last year.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee directed the Centre to submit a report by its experts after the West Bengal government told the court that its disaster management department does not have expertise in such matter.

The Centre was directed to submit its report on the feasibility of resuming tunnelling work using tunnel boring machines at the affected area in central Kolkata by February 7, when the matter will be taken up for hearing again.

The high court had earlier asked the state government to file a report by its experts on whether work can be resumed at the site.

The court was hearing a PIL seeking termination of underground drilling for metro tunnels in congested areas. The PIL has also challenged the provisions of Metro Railway (Construction of Works) Act, 1978.

Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were deployed to dig two parallel tunnels for the underground East-West Metro, when the accident in Bowbazar happened involving one of these on August 31, 2019. Several buildings in the congested area collapsed or developed cracks, leaving hundreds homeless.

The KMRC, which is executing the East-West Metro project, has told the court that work for 9.8 km of the 10.9- km-long underground tunnel has been completed for the corridor.

Tunnels have been bored under the Hooghly river to connect the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah through the rapid transit system, spanning a length of 16.6 km from Howrah Maidan to IT hub Sector V in Salt Lake.

The new corridor passes through some of Kolkata's most-congested areas dotted by many century-old buildings, several of which are in a dilapidated condition.