A shop owner shows cracks on a ceiling on his premises. Express A day after nearly 140 people were evacuated from Bowbazar area in Kolkata as cracks appeared in their houses due to tunnelling work of the East-West Metro project, the state government on Saturday announced compensation for the affected families and shop owners and decided to open a help desk, in association with Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (KRMCL), at Madan Dutta Lane to assist them.
It was decided that compensation of Rs 5 lakh would be paid to each of the affected families and shop owners would be compensated for the loss of livelihood based on the compensation formula under the supervision of KMC — ie Rs 1.5 lakh for up to 100 sq ft and Rs 5 lakh for above 100 sq ft, said official sources.
The decision came at a meeting of officials of the state government with KRMCL, which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee presided over virtually, at the state secretariat Nabanna to discuss the situation arising out of subsidence and consequent cracks in houses in Bowbazar area due to metro construction work.
The meeting was attended by, among others, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, Chief Secretary Harikrishna Dwibedi, Home Secretary Bhagabati Prasad Gopalika, Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and KMC and KMRCL officials.
At the meeting, it was decided that immediate arrangements should be made for shifting the affected families and persons to safer locations, and adequate care should be made for their food, health and other services, while in the case of students, patients and vulnerable persons, special care would be taken, said official sources.
Besides, help desk camps would be organised in consultation with KMRCL and local representatives, including MPs, MLAs, councillors, Kolkata Police, KMC officials, etc, to provide assistance to the affected people living in 12 buildings — which includes, as of now, 28 families consisting of 180 people, many of them artisans, said sources.
According to sources, all 28 families have been shifted to hotels, they will be brought back or given alternative accommodation, and if more cracks develop or more families/persons are found to be affected, a similar process will be followed as being followed for the already identified families.
“The buildings/shops which cannot be repaired will be rebuilt. For three years, after the completion of work, KMRCL will supervise and maintain the structure. Proper soil testing will be done by KMRCL over the area to prevent such incidents in the future. Besides, advance information will be shared by KMRCL with Kolkata Police and KMC for such works in the future to take precautionary measures and safeguard human life,”
said Hakim.
All 140 people evacuated from the Bowbazar area of Kolkata on Friday were shifted to five hotels in nearby localities. More people are likely to be evacuated in the coming days from the localities falling along the metro project site, officials said.
This is the third incident of houses developing cracks in Bowbazar due to work on the metro project that includes India’s first underwater metro tunnel across the Hooghly river, delaying the project for months.
The East-West Metro would connect Sector V in Salt Lake with Howrah Maidan across the Hooghly through the underwater tunnel.
The KMRCL, the executing agency for the East-West Metro, had stopped the construction work on an underground tunnel after subsidence in Durga Pituri Lane following a leakage of underground water in August 2019. The incident had left more than 160 people displaced. Many of them have now been shifted to flats. Then another crack was generated in this year May. Then also the whole work in that area was stopped by KMRCL.