The mayor of Calcutta will meet officials of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) on Monday to seek a status report on the construction of homes for those who had to be evacuated from Bowbazar following subsidence caused by the construction of an underground tunnel for the East-West Metro in 2019.
Twenty-five houses on Durga Pithuri Lane and Shyakrapara Lane had to be demolished following the subsidence in August 2019 because they were beyond any scope for repairs, said a Metro Railway official. Residents of many other houses were also evacuated, but these buildings can be repaired, the official said.
Firhad Hakim told Metro on Sunday that he would ask officials of KMRCL about a deadline by which they plan to hand over the newly built homes to their owners.
“I have asked the KMRCL officials to come for a meeting on Monday. Many families
have been living in rented apartments for years,” Hakim said.
“What is the status of construction of the new homes? How long will it take? When will they hand over the newly built houses to their owners? These are questions that need to be answered,” Hakim added.
On Sunday, a Metro Railway official said they have set 2027 as the deadline to hand over the newly built buildings to their owners.
“Initially, 23 buildings had to be demolished. Two more had to be demolished later because they had gone beyond the scope of repair,” said the official. “We have set a target to hand over the homes by 2027,” said an official.
While the East-West Metro has started running its full course between Sector V and Howrah Maidan, the families who were rendered homeless are still living amidst uncertainty about their return.
A 2.45 km stretch — between Sealdah and Esplanade — was inaugurated on Friday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making the entire 16.6km length finally operational 16 years after the construction began. Trains were earlier running between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade, and Sector V and Esplanade.
A stretch in Bowbazar, between Sealdah and Esplanade, has seen four incidents of water leakage and soil subsidence since 2019.
Rajdeep Boral, one of the evacuated residents of Durga Pithuri Lane, said they had yet to hear any word from the KMRCL on when they can enter their homes. The family’s four-storey building had to be pulled down.
“My grandfather passed in 2023. He wanted to return to his own place, but he could not. My parents are ailing and they are old. We do not know when we will get back to our own para,” he said.
Rajdeep now lives with his parents, his wife, his brother, his sister-in-law, and their infant son.
“We are now living in a flat on Amherst Street. This is the sixth place to which we have been shifted in the last six years,” he said.