A mason working in a three-storey building on Srinath Das Lane in Bowbazar died after portions of two balconies collapsed on Sunday morning, police said.
Ashutosh Adhikary, 37, a resident of Banshra in South 24-Parganas, was taken to Medical College Kolkata where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
A Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) official said the building appeared to be over 100 years old. The repairs were being carried out without informing the civic body. “No structural engineer was supervising the repairs either,” said the official.
The balconies of the first and second floors collapsed, said a KMC official.
Repairs that can impact “structural members” like beams and columns should be done under the supervision of a structural engineer. The KMC should be informed before such repairs, said the official.
In case of old houses, the KMC must be intimated if the “kori-borga” is being repaired or replaced, said the official.
Portions of the house on Srinath Das Lane were being demolished along with ongoing repairs.
A FIR was lodged against the owners of the building and the labour contractor, said a senior Kolkata Police officer.
“The rear balcony of the building collapsed around 11.10am while repairs were underway. Adhikary was rescued by police and fire brigade personnel and taken to Medical College Kolkata,” said an officer.
A statement by Kolkata Police issued on Sunday evening said Adhikary was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.
Besides Adhikary, four others who were working in the building were rescued by the police. When they were brought out, fear was clear on their faces.
Biswarup De, councillor of adjacent Ward 48, went to the building in the afternoon. De said multiple neighbourhoods in north and central Calcutta suffer from a similar problem, where portions of a house or the entire house are in dilapidated condition.
“There are many tenants in such houses, but the condition is unfit for living. There have been no repairs for decades,” he said.
The house on Srinath Das Lane is part of Ward 47, which is without a councillor since the incumbent passed away.
De said that a portion of the building was in good condition while another portion was in a dilapidated state. People are still living in the other portion of the building, he said.
Sources in the KMC said that many of the old dilapidated buildings in north and central Calcutta also suffered from feuds between co-owners, in most cases, relatives of the same family. It was not immediately clear whether the house of Srinath Das Lane also had a similar problem.
“Owing to intra-family disputes or disputes between owner and tenants, repairs are not done for years. This further worsens the condition of a building,” said a KMC engineer.