The mayor of Calcutta has set a one-year deadline to reconstruct the residences in Bowbazar that were destroyed because of subsidence resulting from underground tunnel excavation for the East-West Metro.

At a meeting on Monday, mayor Firhad Hakim asked officials of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), the implementing agency of East-West Metro, to ensure that the new homes were ready within a year.

KMRCL officials have agreed to the deadline, Hakim said after the meeting.

A senior KMRCL official said they would comment after the minutes of the meeting were signed.

“The meeting was positive. The minutes of the meeting will be prepared and signed by all parties involved. We will comment on what transpired in the meeting after that,” said A.K. Nandi, general manager of KMRCL, who attended Monday’s meeting.

Hakim said that KMRCL officials told him they needed time till October to complete some retrieval work. The construction of the houses will start thereafter.

Another KMRCL official said that a portion of a concrete structure built to prevent further water seepage into the tunnel in Bowbazar needs to be cut.

“About three metres of the structure has to be cut manually. We cannot cause vibrations because they can damage the buildings. After removing the concrete structure, the void has to be filled up, and a steel structure will be placed over it before houses can be built,” said the official.

A few residents and business owners from the area also attended the meeting.

“KMRCL will complete the new buildings within a year. They will start construction after October. The area of each of these buildings is not large. It should not take much time to raise them,” Hakim said after the meeting.

Hakim pointed out that the meeting also discussed the possibility of hiring experts from Jadavpur University for ten years to observe changes in the building that might require repairs.

“KMRCL said their liability would be for three years. I told them there should not be any problem hiring someone for ten years just to observe the buildings,” he said.

Biswarup De, the councillor of Ward 48 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which includes the affected homes in Durga Pithuri Lane and Shyakrapara Lane, said KMRCL had initially sought time till September 2027. “But Hakim insisted that they finish the new homes by September 2026,” said De.

On Sunday, a Metro Railway official said they have set 2027 as the deadline to hand over the newly built buildings to their owners.

The contractor who has bagged the job to rebuild the homes was also present at Monday’s meeting.

The KMC has already approved the building plans for the upcoming structures, the mayor said.

Piyali Sen, one of the residents, who attended Monday’s meeting, said everyone in her family was looking forward to coming back to their own neighbourhood.

“We have been out of the place for six years. My grandfather died in the meantime. He wanted to get back there, but he could not,” said Sen. Their three-storey building on Shyakrapara Lane was demolished following the subsidence in August 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.

Hakim said on Monday that he asked KMRCL to submit a progress report every three months.

KMC will also start laying the water supply network in the area that was damaged after the subsidence, he said.