In what comes as a ray of hope for the displaced residents of the subsidence affected zone in Bowbazar, the implementing agency of the ongoing Metro project in the area, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited, has finalised the tender for reconstruction of the houses.
Reconstruction of the houses is to start in the month of April 2024 that was declared earlier by the agency. The houses that would be rebuilt under the tender are those that were damaged beyond repair during two incidents of cave-in in 2019 and 2022. The tender has been done for 26 buildings in the cave-in zone. The implementing agency is targeting to complete the reconstruction in two years.
According to the KMRCL, some residual underground works are being carried out at Durga Pituri Lane and Shykra Para Lane that are likely to be completed very soon. “The reconstruction work will start adhering to the timeline committed by KMRCL,” said the implementing agency.
Notably, after the first subsidence occurred on the intervening night of 31 August and 1 September 2019, when the tunnel boring machine, Chandi was blinded by the gushing water of an aquifer flowing into the tunnel leading to subsidence of the ground, around 70 buildings in the area had come under its influence. Of the 70 odd structures, 26 were then informed to have been damaged beyond repair and had to be demolished.
After two years, the implementing agency floated tenders in October last year for the reconstruction of the demolished structures. According to KMRCL, the tender has been finalised and the rebuilding work is to begin in April next year.