Kolkata: Even TMC MLA Tapas Roy who is a resident of Bowbazar is thinking of changing his residence after fresh cracks were seen in the buildings due the East-West Metro works.
Tears are still rolling down from the eyes of those who had lost their house two years back due to the same work, now more people got added in the group after they are on the verge of losing their ancestral houses.
According to Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), two houses of Durga Pithuri Lane in Central Kolkata will be partly demolished on Monday as those are seriously affected.
Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited along with those whose houses are affected and the local councillor Bishwarup Dey and MLA Nayan Bandhopadhyay on Sunday held meetings where apart from apologizing to the people, KMRCL officials said that some of the houses will have to be demolished due to serious cracks and fissures.
Amidst stiff protest from the affected people, C N Jha, the managing director of KMRCL assured all assistance to people.
One of the affected people said that he doesn’t have an alternative place where he can keep his and his family’s valuables.
“The KMRCL officials suddenly said that our houses will be demolished but I have no idea where I will keep my valuables and furniture. I don’t even have a rented apartment,” said one of the affected people.
Some people were also seen protesting in front of the KMRCL officials demanding alternative places to stay as they don’t want to return to a place where they have ‘life risk’.
TMC Chowringhee MLA Nayana Bandhopadhyay said that despite giving ‘fit certificate’ to the houses two years back, some houses developed cracks due to the metro works and also slammed the metro officials for allegedly being ‘careless’.
N C Karmali, director (project) of KMRCL, had earlier said that despite all ‘precautions’ the mishaps occurred due to water seepage.
It can be noted that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is inspecting the place through experts from Jadavpur University and KMRCL is taking advice from experts of IIT Roorkee and further decision about the affected buildings will be taken after the experts from both the varsities submit their reports.
Meanwhile, the East-West Metro works got delayed by six months due to such a mishap.
At least nine houses suffered damage with over 140 local people shifted to hotels. Such a similar incident happened in the same place on August 31, 2019.
However, a political slugfest also started over this incident while BJP is accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress over the mishap and the ruling party is blaming the metro officials for being ‘careless’.
