‘High-risk’ bldgs in KMC focus ahead of monsoon

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation brass has asked senior officials of the buildings department to take up repairs of highly dilapidated buildings ahead of monsoon to ensure safety of residents. There are about 2,300 buildings in the city that are considered “insecure”. The buildings department executive engineers have been asked to submit a list of all dilapidated buildings in their boroughs that are considered ‘high risk’. After submission of the list, the engineers will conduct on-the-spot survey and take note of the portions which need to be repaired. The buildings department will then ask the owners to carry out urgent repairs of that particular portion. “If the owners fail to do so, we may need to engage our teams to carry out some strengthening work so that there is no loss of life,” said a civic official.However, if the KMC survey finds parts of buildings beyond the scope of repairs, the civic body may need to order demolition of such parts, said an official. According to an official, the buildings department engineers are worried about the condition of over 150 highly dangerous buildings in the Cossipore-Dum Dum belt, Burrabazar-Chitpore belt, Girish Park-Jorasamko belt, and in areas like Lenin Sarani, College Street, Sealdah, BB Ganguly Street, SN Banerjee Road, Ripon Street, Park Circus and the Bhowanipore-Kalighat belt, among other areas. “We have identified dilapidated buildings which either need repairs or parts of which need to be demolished. We are working on a plan to conduct an urgent repairs in a month,” said a KMC official. The KMC has also formed a borough-wise team to take note of the extremely dilapidated buildings to shift tenants as a preparatory measure to combat the effects of a cyclonic storm.