On record
On August 31, 2019, a tunnel-boring machine building the East-West Metro corridor struck an aquifer beneath Bowbazar's soft, historically wetland soil, causing numerous two-century-old buildings on Durga Pituri Lane to crack and partially collapse; 23 houses were demolished. The crisis recurred in May 2022 (3 more houses razed) and October 2022 (10 buildings cracked, 136 more residents evacuated), with a Jadavpur University expert panel subsequently recommending 45 additional houses be razed.
The official record states: "Officials initially blamed the tunnel-boring machine hitting an aquifer; a Jadavpur University expert committee later attributed the area's vulnerability to soft soil over an aquifer on land that was historically wetland, settled since 1709 despite the geological risk."
“The tunnel machine hit an aquifer and two-century-old houses cracked; the compensation was five lakh a home.”— Blunderlust Editorial Desk
Sources
- https://thefederal.com/states/east/west-bengal/kolkata-metro-why-bowbazar-houses-are-cracking-and-what-the-future-holds
- https://theprint.in/india/governance/after-kolkata-metro-work-causes-cracks-panel-wants-to-raze-45-british-era-homes-in-bowbazar/1189845/
Visitor reviews Satire
“A tunnel machine hit an aquifer under Durga Pituri Lane and two-hundred-year-old houses cracked open above it.”
“Twenty-three homes demolished in 2019, three more in 2022, ten cracked that October, and the experts want forty-five more down.”
“Five lakh rupees a house for families whose neighbourhood has been settled since 1709. The metro is very nearly finished.”
