E-Paper
Woman, 53, dies as 200-yr-old Kolkata building portion collapses; 18 rescued
Teams from West Bengal fire services department, state disaster management department and the National Disaster Response Force rushed to the scene
A 53-year-old woman died when a portion of a more than two-centuries-old building at Jorabagan in north Kolkata collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday, police said.
“An old lady was killed. At least 18 others were rescued. None were injured. The building was very old and dilapidated. A portion of it collapsed after heavy rains in Kolkata,” said a senior police officer.
The incident happened around 5.30am. According to locals, the woman, Urmila Shaw had stepped out of her house when the portion collapsed. The debris fell on her and buried her under it, they said. The locals were alerted by the noise of building falling down and rescued her.
“It happened in the early morning. We heard a huge noise of something collapsing. When we rushed out, we saw that a portion of the building has collapsed and people were shouting and screaming. We are too scared and all shaken up. We are planning to shift to some other place as even our building is very old,” said Kanchan Bansal, who lives in an adjacent building.
Locals said that the woman after being rescued was rushed to Calcutta Medical College, where doctors declared her dead.
“It was a dilapidated house and was notified as dangerous. The owners didn’t take any steps to renovate it. He was trying to hand it over to a realtor. I told them multiple times to repair some portions. A pillar was leaning. I had warned them. My wife was killed today,” said Manoj Sau, deceased’s husband.
Teams from West Bengal fire services department, state disaster management department and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rushed to the scene. Sniffer dogs were also in action.
“We reached the spot within 20 minutes. We had information that 10 men, seven women and two children were trapped. All were safely evacuated. No one suffered any injuries. Residents of an adjacent building on 30 Brajadulal Street have also been evacuated. The two buildings have been sealed,” said a NDRF official.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) confirmed that the building was over 200-year-old and that it had earlier declared the building ‘dangerous’ and ‘dilapidated’.
“A portion of the building collapsed. A woman was killed. Others were safely evacuated. We had earlier notified it as dangerous and dilapidated,” Smita Pandey, commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said.
“We are issuing fresh notices to residents of all dilapidated and dangerous buildings so that they at least evacuate the buildings at least where there are forecast of heavy rains. Some places received more than 100mm rain,” said Pandey.
Kolkata on Monday was hit by heavy rains after a depression formed over the Bay of Bengal. Between 6.30am on Monday and 6.30am on Tuesday Kolkata received around 60mm rain with some intense spells.
In a separate incident at Posta in central Kolkata, a portion of another building collapsed. Police, however, said that no one was killed and none were injured.
