The tilted Block D in Rail Vihar. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

A building in New Town’s Rail Vihar has a tilt. The tilt is unmistakable when seen from afar and has been measured to be of 16 inches. To put it in perspective, the Leaning Tower of Pisa has a tilt of 154 inches. But the residents do not take pride in the distinction.

“If an earthquake or cyclone comes our way the building would collapse,” says Sibendra Guha, a resident of the building who had taken a loan to buy an apartment here. Santosh Dutta, another retired resident, moved here after selling off his house in Howrah. “I am unwell and my son lives in the US. Where will I go if our building comes crashing down,” he asks.

The back story

Rail Vihar is a housing complex situated behind DLF Building on New Town’s Major Arterial Road. The complex was built by the Indian Railway Welfare Association (IRWO) in 2009 and residents started moving in from the end of the year. It has six buildings, each nine storeys high and with 36 flats each. All flat-owners here are either retired or current railway employees. One building in the colony — Block D — has the tilt.

“It was first discovered in February this year when a friend of mine went to DLF Building for some work and noticed our building leaning dangerously to the southern side,” says Indranath Chakrabartty, a senior citizen who lives with his wife Swapna on the top floor. Alarmed, residents of Block D went to DLF Building to check for themselves.

The tilt was unmistakable and residents of Block D immediately shot off a letter to the IRWO management and the Railway Board chairman seeking an explanation. When there was no reply, the residents wrote to Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco). “Even though Hidco has no authority in the matter we were desperate for some expert advice,” says Chakrabartty.

In June, Hidco got the chief engineer of New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), P.K. Sengupta, to visit the site. Sengupta’s team used total station, an electronic surveying device, to measure the inclination. But the reports were never made public.

When there was still no response from the IRWO, residents sent them an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, asking them what caused the inclination of the building. This time the IRWO swung into action. They got a team from Jadavpur University, headed by a retired head of the civil engineering department to investigate.

Thanks to the tilt, the market value of our flats is nil. We either want our money back or want the IRWO to build us new homes free of cost Resident Indranath Chakrabartty

“Their report stated that the building was tilted 16 inches towards the south. But they said that this posed no danger to it,” says Chakrabartty. “Being a retired civil engineer, I know that this is a dangerous situation and the building stands precariously. We refused to agree with the Jadavpur University team’s report.”

So residents shot off another RTI to IRWO, asking to know the parameters under which the previous investigation took place. IRWO then called a meeting with the residents.

In the meeting held in June, IRWO officials conceded that the previous report was a preliminary one and that the university department would prepare another one on the safety measures that could be taken to protect the building.

Future tense

Residents are dejected and want out. “Thanks to the tilt, the market value of our flats is nil. We either want our money back or want the IRWO to build us new homes free of cost,” says Chakrabartty.

When contacted by The Telegraph Salt Lake, the general manager, IRWO, Calcutta branch, S.R. Chowdhury, said they were waiting for orders from their head office in Delhi. “We have reported everything to Delhi and will execute whatever decision is taken by them,” he said.

But residents refuse to wait and watch. Chakrabartty has gone off to Delhi to meet IRWO officials as others keep their fingers crossed on the outcome of the meeting.