KOLKATA: An illegal four-storey residential apartment in Baghajatin Vidyasagar Colony, south Kolkata, which was built 11 years ago and which started tilting gradually four years ago, keeled over onto a neighbouring one-storey building at 3.05pm on Tuesday while efforts were on to correct the imbalance.
Thankfully, no one was injured. But civic officials said Subho Apartment, tilting at a 45-degree angle, would have to be demolished to prevent a catastrophe. KMC began demolition around 6pm.
A Haryana-based firm that specialises in “building-lifting and shifting with foundation” was attempting to use hydraulic pressure to correct the alignment — caused by soil and foundation failure — when the building toppled. Since all residents had moved out last month to facilitate the work (technically called ‘hydraulic underpinning’), no one was injured or trapped inside. However, at least six families were rendered homeless.
A source in KMC’s buildings department told TOI that the civic body had neither sanctioned any plan for the building’s construction, nor the later repairs. “The building came up on a filled-up pond without a sanctioned plan. No plan was submitted to the department for approval. Then the tilt happened. And the flat owners decided to take help of technology to set the tilt right. Again, we were kept in the dark. Had the developer bothered to seek help before deciding to take corrective measures, we would have roped in a structural engineer to oversee the work, which is critical in nature,” said the senior official.
An FIR has been lodged against the eight flat owners (including developer Subhas Roy, who is on the run), and Abhishek Nagra, the owner of Nagra Building Construction Pvt Ltd, which was carrying on the lifting work.
At 3.05pm, residents of Vidyasagar Colony, near Baghajatin State General Hospital, were jolted when the building crashed onto the house next door. The crash generated a haze of dust that enveloped the neighbourhood for a while. Residents ran out of their homes in fear.
“There was a deafening sound, and we were shocked to see the entire building fall on another house. Everyone panicked as we thought it would crush the single-storey house and then fall on other buildings. I have already shifted to a relative’s home,” said Rupak Mitra, who lives in a two-storey house nearby.
Ujjwal Kumar Sarkar, director-general of KMC’s buildings department, termed it “unique” that the entire building came crashing down in such a short while, even though his department had handled numerous cases of tilted apartments, because of defects in the foundation. “Now, the challenge lies in demolishing the structure, as we need to exercise extreme caution to avoid damage to the structure of other adjacent buildings,” he told TOI.
Sources said the building was built on a two-cottah plot, where there used to be a one-storey house and a pond. Local residents said the pond was filled up, and the old house razed by Roy, the promoter, when he built the four-storey apartment with eight flats in 2013. Construction work had commenced in 2012.
The landowners were provided one flat, and the promoter himself kept two flats for himself, while the remaining five were sold between Rs 18 lakh and 22 lakh each. Most of the buyers reportedly paid in cash.
“The apartment was built on our land. We were offered a 450 sq ft flat on the ground floor, and we moved in 2013,” said Barnali Karmakar. “Everything was fine for the first few years, but then the building began to tilt. The promoter asked us to pay Rs 1 lakh each for the repair work, but we refused. In 2022, he said he would continue the work by himself and that he had hired an agency to do the work. We all had to sign a contract with the firm in 2024,” said Karmakar, who added that they had left their home on December 17 last year, following which the lifting work started.
Niladri Bakshi, another flat-owner, paid Rs 18 lakh for a 600sq ft flat in 2014, said: “We don’t know where we will go now or if at all we will be compensated. All we know is that the building is gone forever, and we have no place to call home.
Former RSP councillor Debasis Mukherjee questioned what KMC’s buildings department and the local councillor was doing when the building started to tilt, four years ago. “The tilt was clearly visible. Had the department and the councillor taken preventive steps, this disaster would have been avoided,” Mukherjee said.
Source Homevior.in
