Building wall collapses on Muktaram Babu St, 1 injured

Kolkata: A 36-year-old construction worker, Kayum Mollah, was injured when the outside wall of a half-a-century-old building collapsed with a deafening sound, along with the scaffolding, in Muktaram Babu street on Sunday afternoon. The building, which is undergoing repairs, is a G+4 structure but the outside wall facing the street was yet to be demolished.Police, fire brigade and KMC demolition squad all reached the spot as Muktaram Babu Street was covered in a haze of smoke due to the collapse. However, the building structure suffered no significant damages. This old building had a KMC sanction plan for a G+5 structure. This is part of the process in which KMC is encouraging owners and inhabitants to rebuild dilapidated buildings. KMC ward 25 councillor Rajesh Sinha said the repairs and rebuild were done with KMC sanction. Local Dinesh Das said while the rebuild was done, the outside wall facing the road, was not brought down. A scaffolding was set up for its demolition, but it gave away. There were 15 workers at the site when the incident took place. The injured worker, a resident of Minakhan, was on the scaffording when the wall gave away. Mollah was saved when he held on to an iron beam, till he was brought down. Ravi Raja, a local, who drove Mollah to the Medical College Hospital, said he was traumatised but the doctors said he was out of danger. Santosh Pathak, also a KMC councillor, alleged that he had lodged a complaint to the cops on Feb 18 about this building, but nothing was done.