Kolkata Metro: Recently, experts from IIT-Roorkee reviewed the site at the Bowbazar area where cracks had developed in homes. The experts were roped in by the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) for technical consultations in connection with an incident of soil subsidence during the East-West line’s construction. A KMRC official was quoted in a PTI report saying that the team from IIT-Roorkee also assessed the preventive steps taken in the wake of the mishap. On Sunday, these experts inspected the affected houses in the Bowbazar area located in central Kolkata. Recently, at least nine houses developed cracks in Bowbazar during the East-West Metro line’s tunneling work.
A similar incident occurred in August 2019 when a tunnel boring machine (TBM) hit an aquifer. At that time, houses had also collapsed because of soil subsidence. KMRC’s General Manager (administration) A K Nandy said in a statement that Kolkata Metro had requested IIT-Roorkee for technical consultation in connection with the Bowbazar incident on the intervening night of May 11 and May 12. The expert team from IIT-Roorkee, comprising professor Narendra Samadhiya as well as assistant professor Akanksha Tyagi, held preliminary discussions with top KMRC officials on short and long-term steps to be undertaken for ensuring that such mishaps are not repeated. The team will submit its report as well as technical inputs after further site visits, the GM said.
N C Karmali, Director (project) of Kolkata Metro was quoted in the report saying that the houses suffered damage when the development work was underway to join two tunnels- one originating from Sealdah and the other originating from Esplanade. The work on the Sealdah side was completed smoothly, but in the Esplanade tunnel, water seepage led to problems, he explained. The East-West Metro corridor of Kolkata Metro, linking Howrah Maidan and Salt Lake, is partially operational at present from Sector V to Phoolbagan metro station.