Home & life shattered, Garden Reach families still in trauma a month later
Times of India | 18 April 2024
Kolkata: A month since 13 people were killed at Azhar Molla Bagan in Garden Reach, where a five-storey under-construction building had collapsed on a slum, family members of the victims are still picking up the pieces and struggling to come to terms with their losses, despite support from neighbours and the administration.
“No amount of help or assurance from anyone can compensate for my loss and fill up the void in my life.It still feels like yesterday when my wife had sent me to buy items for sehri and by the time I returned, my entire family had been wiped out. The building fell on our home. I don’t think I can ever come to terms with my loss,” said Syed Mustafa, who lost four of his family members, including his wife, brother and sister-in-law.
Shamim Akhtar, whose brother Sheru Nizami, was the last one to be pulled out of the rubble almost 100 hours after the tragedy, remains traumatized. “What makes it worse for us is that my brother had played a small part in the construction of the project and he lost his life there. He was a good soul and used to help everyone in the neighbourhood. The untimely death of such a person is not only a loss for our family but also for the entire neighbourhood,” said Akhtar.
Neighbours said they celebrated an inconspicuous Eid last week and as a month has passed, there will be multiple mourning and prayer ceremonies for the departed souls this month. “Our area never witnessed a tragedy like this. From next week, multiple families of the victims will observe Chaliswan, a religious practice in Islam that involves reciting the Quran collectively on the 40th day after death. There will be special prayers for the departed at the mosque and poor men and women will be fed on that day by the victims’ families,” said Md Tahimuddin Ashrafi, the imam of Azhar Molla Bagan Chhoti Masjid.
Residents of the area said the administration, led by the local councillor, had been trying to help mitigate their pains by supporting them and by offering jobs to family members of the victims. “We cannot bring back those who are dead but to ensure the families can sustain their livelihood, I have tried to employ at least one family member from the the bereaved families to private jobs at corporate houses known to me including that of my wife’s company,” said local councillor Shamz Iqbal.
The demolition of the building as well as two other illegal buildings next to it are still underway and according to locals, all unauthorised constructions in the area had either been kept on hold or work had been on at a very slow pace.
During a visit to the building collapse spot on Wednesday, TOI found the rubble and debris being cleared. Md Arshad, a resident of Azar Mollah Bagan, who lives close to the epicentre of the accident, said, “The work of clearing the space is still going on. People who lived in the shanties, on which the under-construction building had crashed down, have been staying in different places.”
A KMC official said, “The big concrete chunks are being broken into pieces. KMC workers are now removing the debris with the help of machines. A tilted building is being pulled down, its roof already razed. The pillars are being demolished under the guidance of engineers to avoid any further untoward incident.”
Ever since the collapse, about 70 members of 18 families have shifted in a five-storey community hall, run by KMC, at Ram Nagar, nearly 1km from Azar Mollah Bagan. Javed Anwar, a Trinamool worker and a close aide of Shams Iqbal, said, “The councillor has arranged for food and lodging of the displaced people. They have been provided with AC rooms, adequate water and clean toilets at the community hall.”
Md Afar, a worker of a sari painting unit, said, “Six members of our family have shifted to the community hall on March 22 as the building at Azar Mollah Bagan, where we lived, is being razed by KMC now. We are waiting for our permanent accommodation.”
Shamsad Begum, who has also been putting up at the community hall, said, “Currently, we are having no problem staying here. But we are all looking out for accommodations in Azar Mollah Bagan.”
Md Toushif Alam, a Class XII student, said, “I had appeared for my plus-II board exams from my home at Azar Mollah Bagan before the March 17 incident. My results are slated to come out on April 24. We are all waiting to go back to our old locality soon.”