KOLKATA: Metro Rail Corporation of Kolkata needs to demolish at least 11 buildings in and around Durga Pithuri Lane and Shyakrapara. The agency on Monday sent an SOS to Kolkata Municipal Corporationseeking permission to raze these buildings to avoid disaster.
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation has sent a list of the buildings which need to be pulled down to save other structures in the vicinity from crumbling.
A senior KMC official said that all possible cooperation would be extended to the KMRC in this respect. However, a civic official said that before the KMRC starts demolition, the rail authorities would need to sign an agreement with the owners or residents of these buildings for reconstruction of their houses.
The KMRC will also require an NOC from the owners/tenants of the endangered buildings and submit the same to KMC for the civic body’s approval to go ahead with the demolition.
A civic official said that all that is required is an undertaking from the KMRC stating that the demolition will be carried out with their resources and risks and with the consent of the owners or tenants of the endangered buildings.
According to an internal survey conducted by the buildings department, as many as 16 buildings were badly affected, 11 of which posed a threat to other structures in the densely populated lane.
KMC mayor Firhad Hakim and municipal commissioner Khalil Ahmed held a meeting with senior civic officials and chalked out a plan to decide the fate of these buildings that have become extremely vulnerable.
According to a KMC official, the civic body will actively cooperate with the KMRC in demolishing those buildings which have become structurally unsafe and could fall on their own any time.
A buildings department official, who managed to enter one of the endangered structures on Sunday, narrated the harrowing experience.
Source: ET Realty
