India News | Third Subsidence in 3 Yrs: 10 Homes Develop Cracks in Kolkata During Metro Work Fiasco
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. At least 10 houses developed cracks on Friday morning at Bowbazar in central Kolkata following water seepage during work in the East-West Metro underground tunnel, the third such incident in the area in three years, KMRC managing director C N Jha said.
Kolkata, Oct 14 (PTI) At least 10 houses developed cracks on Friday morning at Bowbazar in central Kolkata following water seepage during work in the East-West Metro underground tunnel, the third such incident in the area in three years, KMRC managing director C N Jha said.
As many as 136 residents of these houses, located at Madan Dutta Lane, were immediately shifted to nearby hotels, Jha said.
"Water started gushing out suddenly at a very high rate initially, along with mud, resulting in ground settlement in that area and cracks in 10 buildings," he told reporters here.
After spot assessment, engineers advised the shifting of residents of houses that lay within 250 metres of the site of seepage, thus leading to displacement of some more people, Jha explained.
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"We are searching for additional hotel rooms and have requested Mayor Firhad Hakim for assisting us in the endeavour," he said, adding that help was being extended for the purpose.
Madan Dutta Lane is situated close to Durga Pituri Lane, where buildings had got damaged on two occasions earlier due to ground subsidence amid tunnelling work for the Metro work.
Hakim, earlier in the day, said that the Metro authorities should demolish the houses in the area, and after necessary work to prevent any future accident gets undertaken, new buildings should be constructed.
"It is not wise to try to identify and repair in bits and pieces as the danger of future accidents may exist. It will be better to demolish the houses in the affected area and come up with a condominium after extensive precaution," he told reporters, reacting to the incident.
The KMRC chief said that presence of volumes of water underneath the area, instead of soil, is a bottleneck that has come in the way of the tunnelling work.
"It is very difficult to construct a tunnel or a cross passage in an area full of water," he said
Jha said that water seepage started around 3.30 am under Madhav Dutta Lane, where construction work was being carried out very cautiously with the involvement of Indian as well as foreign experts.
"But we could not stop this problem (from occurring) again," he said.
He said that the seepage occurred in the lower portion of the tunnel, after the upper half grouting work was completed successfully.
"We were very confident that nothing will happen, but could not avoid the water ingress," he said. North Kolkata MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, after visiting the area, said that he will speak to the Railway Board chairman about the incident.
"We want the authorities to take a very cautious approach during the construction work taking all precautions," he said.
Buildings in the Bowbazar area in central Kolkata developed cracks twice earlier during tunnelling work, leading to delay in completion of the East-West Metro project.
"Cement grouting of the underground tunnel had been going on since last Friday," A K Nandy, general manager (administration), KMRC, told reporters after inspecting the spot.
On the advice of two expert engineers from Sweden who are here, chemical grouting was also being done for reinforcement of the structure.
Nandy said that efforts will be made to give monetary compensation to the owners of affected buildings and shops and other residents within 15 days.
"We will pay as we did earlier – Rs 5 lakh to those who had to stay away from their homes for more than 30 days, Rs 1 lakh to owners of shops that have less than 100 square feet area, and Rs 5 lakh for the ones that have a bigger area," he said.
On August 31, 2019, a tunnel boring machine (TBM) had hit an aquifer leading to severe ground subsidence and collapse of several buildings at Bowbazar.
At least three houses were damaged again in May this year owing to ground subsidence caused by water seepage during work for joining the tunnels – one coming from the Sealdah side in the east and the other Esplanade side on the western side.
East West metro corridor, connecting Howrah Maidan and Sector V in Salt Lake, is currently partially operational -- between Sector V station and Sealdah.
Of the 16.6-km length of East West Metro, underground corridor constitutes 10.8 km -- between Howrah and Phoolbagan – with part of the tunnel passing below the Hooghly river, while the rest is elevated corridor, according to the KMRC official.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)