Damaged houses cannot be demolished till submission of land

City mayor Firhad Hakim on Thursday said until the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) submitted a land stability certificate of the Bowbazar area to the civic body, it would not be allowed to demolish the damaged buildings or remove debris from the area.

Several houses at Bowbazar area in central Kolkata have either collapsed or developed cracks due to a tunnel boring work for the East West Metro corridor by the KMRC, leading to the evacuation of over 400 people.

"Until and unless they (KMRC officials) provide us (Kolkata Municipal Corporation) land stability certificate from a recognised organisation, we will not permit them to remove debris or start demolition works of the buildings. And until then there is no question to reconstructing the houses," Hakim told reporters at the state secretariat.

Hakim, also the state's urban development minister, held a meeting of the core committee, formed to look into developments arising out of the incident of subsidence and cracks in the buildings.

"If we give them permission to demolish houses or remove the debris, labourers would have to go inside. And if the building collapses then and they get killed, who will be responsible for that," he said.

"The KMRC officials told us that they could not arrest the subsidence and that is the reason they have brought a few experts from abroad to advise them," he said.

"The KMC's building department is conducting surveys at every house in the area. The KMRC officials are also visiting every household there to check on any damage," Hakim said.

Hakim said the residents, whose buildings have collapsed, would require to lodge FIRs regarding important documents such as Aaadhaar cards, voter cards and bank papers, which has gone missing after the collapse.

Several buildings at Durga Pituri Lane and Syakra Para Lane had collapsed or developed cracks owing to the incident of August 31, when an aquifer broke during tunnel boring work and water and silt gushed in, leading to a severe ground loss in the vicinity.

The residents had to evacuate the buildings in haste, leaving behind their belongings, identification documents among other things.