Chunks fall off heritage structure, injuring pedestrian: KMC orders repairs
Telegraph | 29 January 2025
Chunks from the second floor of Esplanade Mansions, a Grade I heritage building opposite the southeast gate of Raj Bhavan, crashed on the footpath below on Sunday and at least one pedestrian was injured.
The "poorly maintained" building has many spots where the concrete has worn out, exposing the reinforcements.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Monday issued a notice to the building's owner, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), asking the central PSU to undertake repairs.
An official at the KMC said an inspection on Monday revealed that the building lacked maintenance.
"The building is poorly maintained and there are many places where the plaster has come off. There are also multiple points from where chunks of concrete have fallen off. The reinforcements have been exposed," said the official.
"We have issued a notice to the LIC to do repairs. We told them that owing to the building's condition, an accident may occur anytime," said the KMC official.
"We have also asked them to seek permission from the KMC's heritage conservation committee before they start the repairs," the KMC official said.
Kolkata Police said Subhas Singh, 80, a footpath dweller, was injured when the 3ftX1ft chunk collapsed on Sunday afternoon. He was taken to Medical College Kolkata, where doctors administered first aid and discharged him.
The police have cordoned off the footpath and a portion of the road around the site of the collapse.
The four-storey Esplanade Mansions was built as a residential building in 1910. Its owner was Jewish businessman David Elias Ezra.
"The building's architecture is British colonial style. On the ground floor, there are elements of Art Nouveau architecture. It is a sprawling structure," said conservation architect Partha Ranjan Das, a member of the West Bengal Heritage Commission.
A blue plaque mentioning that the Esplanade Mansions is a Grade I heritage building hangs from its gate.
The accident has again shone the light on the condition of some of Calcutta's celebrated edifices.
Across the city, there are tens of such structures that are poorly maintained but a plaque calling them heritage buildings has been hung up outside.
Arun Shrivastava, deputy chief engineer, LIC (eastern zone), told Metro the company had started the "tendering process" for the repairs.
"We have hired a conservation architect to do the job. He has already assessed the work to be done and we have begun the tendering process to start the physical repairs. We have already obtained the nod from the KMC's heritage conservation committee," he said.
The committee's permission, he said, was obtained before Sunday's accident.
"The building houses an LIC office and some tenants. A few LIC officials have their residences there," Shrivastava said.
Espanade Mansions once housed the office of the chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway. But the railways have vacated the premises.