Two people died as part of a building in central Kolkata collapsed on Tuesday following incessant rain for the last three days.
Two people died as part of a dilapidated building at 10 Mirror Street in central Kolkata collapsed on Tuesday following incessant rain for the last three days.
The two – Himadri Pahari (47) and Hansha Shaw (19) – had been trapped under the rubbles for several hours before the debris was removed by rescue team and rushed to Medical College and Hospital where they were declared brought dead.
Hansha’s mother too had had a narrow escape and had seen helplessly Hansha getting trapped under the debris when part of the roof and wall collapsed at about 12.45 pm. “She tried but could not bring her daughter. She herself had a close call,” a neighbour of Hansha said.
Pahari was an accountant for an office which had rented an office space on the ground floor of the building.
Officials of Disaster Management Group, Kolkata Police and the Fire Department reached the spot within minutes and were later joined by officials of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Mayor and state fire minister Sovan Chatterjee also reached the spot. Two earth-movers were engaged to remove the rubbles and search operation was on till evening, looking for more bodies under the concrete. “Part of the house has collapsed. Not only this building will be demolished but other such dilapidated buildings will also be brought down,” Chatterjee said.
The building which collapsed today is over 100 years old under Taltala Police Station where the Shaw family lived along with an office of a private company on the ground floor of this two storeyed building. One of the four Shaw brothers, Amit Shaw had shifted with his family to Tangra, his three brothers lived here with their families. Hansha, my niece was a very cheerful child,” Amit said.
State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said that the state government had framed a law to ensure that tenants are not evicted by landlords from these buildings on the pretext of building repair yet not many were taking advantage of those rules.
In a separate incident at Nanduara village in Purulia district, two persons died and five others were injured as a wall collapsed on them. The two dead had been identified as Sikandar Mirza (30) and Siaz Khan (12). District Magistrate of Purulia Alokesh Prasad Roy said that the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon when people were pulling out an autorickshaw which had got stuck in a pothole. He said that incessant rain had weakened the earthen wall which fell on them.
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