Residents gear up for cave-in zone bhumi puja today
Times of India | 18 February 2024
Kolkata: The 300-odd Bowbazar residents, rendered homeless by the first East-West Metro construction disaster in 2019, are looking forward to Sunday’s Bhumi Puja for rebuilding the first 26 houses.
“Most of us will try to make it to tomorrow’s Bhumi Puja. For us, it’s not only an auspicious occasion, but also an event symbolizing hope,” Sudipta Seal, an erstwhile resident of 14 Durga Pituri Lane, said on Saturday.
Durga Pituri Lane is now famous as the Ground Zero of the Bowbazar cave-in zone.On Aug 31, 2019, water had seeped into the tunnels during construction, causing largescale subsidence in which several houses fell like a pack of cards. A few of these were razed for safety because they were beyond repair. Sunday’s Bhumi Puja is for rebuilding the first lot of 26 houses in the open space that’s ringed by BB Ganguly Street (the famous jewellery hub) in the north, Durga Pituri Lane in the east, Gour De Lane in the west and Hidaram Banerjee Lane in the south.The new structures, almost identical to the ones that fell, will come up in the open space where a cluster of century-old buildings stood before Aug 31, 2019.
Now a huge pandal has been set up at the same place, which also symbolizes the biggest setback for the Rs 10,000crore East-West corridor project. The bhumi puja will be attended by politicians and dignitaries and KMC and KMRC officials.