Panic spread in Kolkata after two multi-storied buildings tilted against each other in the city, after previous reports of similar incidents in recent days.
Located in East Kolkata’s Tangra, on Christopher Road in Ward 58 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), one of the two buildings that tilted on Wednesday houses residents, while the adjoining building — six storeys tall — is under construction.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday gave notice to the residents of the multi-storied building in Tangra for evacuation. “We are searching for the promoter who flouted KMC building rules, leading to such a disaster for the residents. We will take appropriate steps against the promoter and the licensed building surveyor,” a KMC official said.
Kamarhati Municipal Chairman Gopal Saha, along with a local councillor, civic officials, engineers and police had inspected the site on Tuesday and ordered an immediate stop to construction work. “The structure was unauthorised, and no plan was sanctioned. We have registered an FIR at the Kamarhati police station against the promoter and will demolish the building,” Saha said. The area has now been cordoned off.
Mayor Firhad Hakim on Wednesday said the Licensed Building Surveyor (LBS) who drafted the plan for the building would be called and asked to explain “what went wrong” in ensuring a safe foundation for the building that tilted. “We have reasons to believe that the LBS has a role in ensuring the safety of the building which tilted. Questioning the LBS will lead us to a point where the reasons for the construction failure will be made clear,” Hakim said.
Local councillor Sandipan Saha said he will appeal to prospective flat buyers in the Tangra area not to get trapped by “a section of unscrupulous promoters” who engage in “illegal construction”. “It is the duty of the KMC officials to locate buildings that are being constructed without a civic sanction. We will extend our cooperation to civic officials,” Saha said.
Earlier, a four-storey “illegal” under-construction building in Belgharia which is under the Kamarhati municipality area, which had started to tilt about two weeks ago, further leaned onto a neighbouring building last Tuesday morning, KMC sources said.
Residents had then feared a repetition of the incident in Baghajatin of South Kolkata, where a similarly leaning house had given in and collapsed a week ago on January 14.
KMC officials said that the tilting of the Belgharia building appeared to be after a firm, supposedly an expert in “building-lifting”, started work to correct the misalignment using hydraulic pressure.