The probe team formed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to inquire into the collapse of the Garden Reach building will collect samples from the site on Tuesday, a senior official of the civic body said.
An official said that though demolition work continued, no rubble was taken away from the site on Monday. This was done to ensure that the probe team faced no problems in collecting samples.
The team was formed on Friday. It held its first meeting on Saturday, where the committee members decided to take the help of Jadavpur University to find out the cause of the collapse.
One of the mandates of the inquiry committee is to determine the load-bearing capacity of the soil on which the building came up. It will also try to ascertain whether inferior materials were used to construct the five-storey building in Garden Reach’s Azhar Molla Bagan.
The building collapsed around midnight on March 17, killing 12 people.
“To determine the quality of materials used in the construction or the load-bearing capacity of the soil, we have to collect samples from the site. Concrete, steel reinforcements as well as soil samples have to be collected,” said a member of the probe team.
“We do not have a laboratory to analyse the quality of materials used or test the soil’s load-bearing capacity. Teaching institutions will have such laboratories. That is why we have sought help from Jadavpur University.”
The eight-member committee is headed by the joint municipal commissioner and includes engineers and officials of the KMC.
A KMC official who is involved in the demolition of the collapsed structure said on Monday that no rubble was taken away from the site during the day. “Nothing will be removed till the team collects samples. We have been told that the samples will be collected on Tuesday,” said the official.
The KMC, with help from contractors hired by the civic body to demolish the remains of the building, has been able to take an earth mover to the site through narrow lanes. .
Officials said the lanes were too narrow for large earth movers.
“Even the small earth mover is being used with caution. A building next to the site of the collapse has tilted. Vibration that is produced when the earth mover functions can cause further damage to the building,” an official said.
The civic authorities have decided to pull down the tilted building. A team that went to the site to pull down the structure on Sunday had to return after protests from residents.
