KMC starts razing tilted building at Garden Reach collapse zone
Times of India | 27 March 2024
Kolkata: KMC on Tuesday started demolishing the five-storied tilted building next to the one that had collapsed in Garden Reach. Twelve people had died in the collapse.
A KMC official said they were instructed to begin the demolition from the terrace and then move down. On Tuesday, the concrete section of the terrace slab was hammered down. The team will gradually demolish the other floor slabs before starting to pull down the building’s walls, beams and columns.
A civic official said that while it was a common practice for the civic body’s demolition wing to raze the ceiling slabs of illegal floors in a building while leaving the shell standing as the civic body did not have adequate machinery to pull down the columns and beams without causing any damage to life and property around the site, they would have to pull down the entire building in this case as it had tilted dangerously and could lead to another tragedy.
“Our demolition drives are often questioned as even after demolishing the ceiling slabs, a section of unscrupulous promoters attempts to repair them. But in this case, we will not leave the building with holes in flat ceilings. We will have to pull the building down,” said the civic official.
The building in question was part of 16 unsafe structures in the area that KMC had identified. Of them, J-560/D is the most vulnerable and civic engineers fear that it could also collapse. And hence, the need to demolish it.
However, the demolition team will have to tread cautiously as the building is located adjacent to several other buildings without the mandatory gap between them. “We have to ensure that the demolition does not endanger the life of residents of these buildings or cause any damage to them, “ an official said. What has made the job extremely challenging is the lack of access to big machinery like excavators, bulldozers and cranes.
A KMC buildings department official who was present at the site on Tuesday said the civic authority had invited JU structural engineering experts to take a look at the collapsed site and the tilted building. “More than delving deep into the causes of the building collapse, we are now concentrating on the recommendations of the JU experts about the demolition tactics,” said the civic official.
On Sunday, the demolition team went to Garden Reach to raze the unsafe building but they had to postpone the drive and reschedule it later this month owing to resistance from the locals. However, on Tuesday, they relented after local politicians, civic officials and cops persuaded the locals explaining the necessity for demolition.