Damage to houses due to Metro work: Railway minister's intervention sought
Kolkata: West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim on Thursday demanded the Railway minister Piyush Goyal's intervention into the damage to several houses in central Kolkata caused by a tunnel boring work for the East West Metro corridor, leading to the evacuation of over 400 people.
Minister Tapas Roy is one of those who had to move out due to apprehension that his residential house may collapse.
Hakim, the state urban development minister, also accused the Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Limited (KMRCL) which is implementing the project of negligence for the damage claiming that the situation is beyond its ability to handle.
"The Railway minister should intervene and ensure that the damage is controlled and the affected people are properly rehabilitated," Hakim said.
The disaster is of huge proportion, he said but admitted that the KMRCL has tried to salvage the situation as far as possible.
Several houses at Durga Pituri Lane and Syakrapara Lane in Bowbazar area have either collapsed or developed huge cracks, leaving over 400 people homeless on August 31, when an aquifer broke during tunnel boring and water and silt gushed in, leading to a severe ground loss in the vicinity.
Residents of several more houses in adjacent Gour Dey Lane were also asked to vacate their premises on Thursday and shift to hotels and guest houses arranged by the KMRCL.
Tapas Roy, Minister of State for Legislative Affairs in West Bengal, was one of those who had to move out of his residence in a multi-storeyed building on Thursday afternoon.
The KMRCL announced on Thursday a relief of Rs 5 lakh to each household displaced owing to damage to their residences at Bowbazar area.
"The board of directors of KMRCL have decided to immediately release Rs five lakh per family to affected families evacuated in a sudden/unplanned manner," it said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who visited the affected area on Monday and spoke to the residents, urged the KMRC on Tuesday to immediately release compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each of the affected families.
During a meeting with KMRC officials, civic and police authorities over the incident, Banerjee had also urged the Metro authorities to pay a monthly compensation to those whose daily incomes were affected.
The affected families have been shifted to hotels, expenses for which are being borne by KMRCL that said it would reconstruct or repair the damaged buildings.
"If the hotel stay of the shifted residents is prolonged, they will be provided with flats on rent," it said.
Foreign and Indian experts are working to prevent further ground settlement and damage to houses in the area where tunnel boring for the East West Metro corridor has been stopped following the disaster.
The work will be restarted only after the Calcutta High Court gives its nod, the KMRCL has told a division bench.
South African tunnel engineer Paul Vireli, tunnelling expert Guy Bridges from Hong Kong, geotechnical engineer John Endicott from Singapore, Russian grouting expert Kiril Shramko and Kumar Pichumani from Chennai are engaged in planning and execution of the work, the KMRCL said.
Tunnels have been bored under the Hooghly river to connect the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah through the rapid transit system, spanning a length of 16.6 km from Howrah Maidan to IT hub Sector V in Salt Lake.
The new metro corridor passes through some of Kolkata's most-congested areas where there are many century- old buildings, some of which are in a dilapidated condition.
Work for 9.8 km of the 10.9-km-long underground tunnel has been completed for the East-West Metro corridor.
