Kolkata: Two months after a five-storey under-construction building collapsed at Garden Reach’s Azhar Molla Bagan, leaving 13 dead and damaging nearby properties, KMC is struggling to clear the debris and pull down an adjoining unsafe building. The clean-up may take a few months more, said civic officials.
While most of the floor slabs of the collapsed building have been removed, workers are now trying to pull down the beams and columns of an adjoining building that had tilted dangerously.The KMC has engaged three demolition agencies to raze the building. This G+4 building is among six that were identified as unsafe by KMC after the Garden Reach building collapsed on March 18.
According to a KMC official, considering the location of the building on a narrow and dingy lane, civic officials had engaged three demolition agencies to ensure a speedy razing. However, till now, only the roof and some slabs could be pulled down.
“The building is surrounded by apartments and huts. Any haste in pulling down parts of the building will lead to fresh accidents,” said an owner of an agency engaged to raze the building.
A KMC official conceded that the pace of demolition had slowed considerably after the roof and floor slabs were razed. “We are now exercising extreme caution in pulling down pillars and beams as we apprehend freak accidents if we do anything in haste,” said a civic official.
According to the civic official, the demolition agencies have been given liberty to take time and rope in sophisticated equipment, if needed, to ensure the building is razed without harm to residents of the slum. “If the demolition teams seek a couple of mon-ths more, we will grant them so. But we won’t take any chance,” said a KMC official.