Displaced families wait to return home as metro trains set to run below Kolkata’s cave-in zone
Times of India | 22 August 2025
Kolkata: On Friday, as the city will celebrate the launch of Metro services through the very stretch where the East-West line burrowed under Bowbazar, dozens of families will be watching from a distance — still barred from the homes they were forced to leave overnight. They are uncertain if they will ever return to their old houses.
Among them is 56-year-old Anita Dutta. She still clutches the keys to a house she was forced to leave within a few minutes. "They said it would just be for a few days," said Anita, sitting in a rented flat in Sealdah. For her and more than 400 other residents, a few days turned into an exile of almost six years. Like her, Sanjoy Sen was preparing for dinner when cracks started appearing on the walls of his home on Aug 31, 2019. He and his family of six left with only clothes they were wearing. "My wife couldn't even turn off the gas," recalled Sanjay, who is still waiting to return to his old home from the small rented flat.
Many of the buildings are propped up with wooden and iron supports. "We continue to live in fear," said Raja Dasgupta, a resident of Shyakrapara Lane. Ganesh Sau's store did not get damaged but business has not remained the same.