Four-Storey Building Leans Dangerously In Kolkata, None Hurt

According to KMC sources, the building houses flats and started leaning gradually a few months back, prompting the petrified dwellers to shift to safer places.

Kolkata: In an eerie return of last year's Garden Reach tragedy where the collapse of an under-construction building claimed 13 lives, another four-storey building dangerously leaned on the neighbouring building in the Vidyasagar Colony under Ward 99 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in Jadavpur on Tuesday.

According to KMC sources, the building houses flats and leaned a few months back, prompting the petrified dwellers to shift to safer places. However, it was being fixed with the help of technology and the structure completely leaned on Tuesday during the fixing work. The ground floor is completely damaged and it's presumed that the filling up of the lowlands led to the condition. An FIR has been registered by the KMC at Netaji Nagar Police Station against the owner, sources said.

"The house is 12 years old and tilted some months back. A Hariyanvi company was reached out for the repair which had started working. A major tragedy was averted as there was no resident in the building. But it is surprising how the repair work was going on without approval. A portion of it was wetland which was filled for construction," Jadavpur MLA Debrbrata Majumder said.

It is learnt from the locals that the construction started in 2010 and Subhas Saha, the promoter sold four flats in 2016. The structure tilted three months ago and Saha assured the residents of reparing it. The work started one-and-a-half months back.

"We were having lunch when we heard some uncanny sound. After coming out, we saw the building tilting gradually. The building rests on a canal and the residents already deserted it," Dipti Sarkar, a resident, said.

Another resident Prashanta Saha said, "We are living under fear as the blinding is adjacent to our house. We have no option to go anywhere and the flats were erected after filling up wetlands."

"We never allowed any illegal construction in our time and this is happening in Trinamool regime. Today's incident could turn tragic but thanks to preemptive evacuation, no casualties have been reported. The structure was built flouting all building norms," Debasish Mukherjee, a former councillor, said.