A four-storey building collapsed after efforts to rectify its imbalance in South Kolkata

On Tuesday January 14 around 3:05 p.m. local time a four-storey building gave way and fell onto a one-storey building that was located next to it in Baghajatin Vidyasagar Colony, South Kolkata. Fortunately, no injuries or fatalities were reported as the building was evacuated prior to the collapse. It should be noted that the building that collapsed was leaning at about 45-degree angle due to soil and foundation issues towards to the building beside it for almost 4 years.

For this matter, at the time of the collapse works to rectify its imbalance were under way. The repair work that was under supervision of Haryana-based fir, a company that is specialized in "building-lifting and shifting with foundation" by using hydraulic pressure was interrupted as the building gave way.

Notably, the director-general of KMC’s (Kolkata Municipal Corporation) buildings department Ujjwal Kumar Sarkar stated that although his company has corrected leaning buildings before, the collapse of this building was rapid and unusual. Also, he added that the owners never filled a plan for approval for the upcoming repairs and the incident could have been prevented if a structural engineer was at the site during the repairs.  As of present, the remaining building was deemed unsafe, and they are in the process of trying to demolish the rest of the structure without affecting nearby buildings.

It is noted that the building was built in 2013 and was an apartment standing on a two-cottah plot where a pond and a single-storey house once existed. The developer had filled the pond without sanctioned plans and razed the old structure to build the four-storey apartment.

In all, Debasis Mukherjee former RSP councilor, argued that the incident could have been avoided if KMC’s buildings department and local authorities had been involved earlier when the leaning first observed. Last, a FIR (First Information Report) has been filed against the eight flat owners, including developer Subhas Roy.