Illegal four-storey building collapses in Kolkata, no injuries reported

An illegal four-storey residential apartment in south Kolkata's Baghajatin Vidyasagar Colony collapsed onto a neighbouring one-storey house at 3.05pm on Tuesday, reported TOI. The building, which had been gradually tilting for the past four years, fell while efforts were underway to correct its imbalance. Fortunately, no one was injured, as all residents had moved out to facilitate work aimed at realigning the structure.

Subho Apartment, which had tilted at a 45-degree angle due to soil and foundation failure, is now deemed unsafe and will need to be demolished to prevent further risk. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) began demolition around 6pm.

According to TOI, the building had been under repair by a Haryana-based firm specializing in "building-lifting and shifting with foundation." They were using hydraulic pressure to correct the tilt when the structure collapsed. The work was part of a process called ‘hydraulic underpinning,’ but no residents were inside when it happened. However, at least six families have been left homeless due to the incident.


A senior KMC official revealed that the building was constructed without any sanctioned plans. "The building came up on a filled-up pond without a sanctioned plan. No plan was submitted to the department for approval. The tilt happened, and the flat owners decided to use technology to fix it without consulting us. Had they involved a structural engineer, we could have ensured safety," the official told TOI.

An FIR has been filed against the eight flat owners, including developer Subhas Roy, who is currently on the run, and Abhishek Nagra, the owner of Nagra Building Construction Pvt Ltd, which was performing the corrective work.

At 3.05pm, the crash shook Vidyasagar Colony, near Baghajatin State General Hospital. The building’s sudden collapse caused a cloud of dust to envelop the neighbourhood, leaving residents in panic. "We thought it would crush the single-storey house and fall on others. It was a nightmare," Rupak Mitra, a local resident, also told TOI.

Ujjwal Kumar Sarkar, director-general of KMC's buildings department, said that while his department has dealt with tilted buildings before, the collapse in such a short time was unusual. "Now, the challenge is to demolish the structure carefully to avoid damage to surrounding buildings," he said.

The apartment was built in 2013 on a two-cottah plot where a pond and a single-storey house once stood. The promoter, Subhas Roy, razed the old structure and filled the pond to build the four-storey apartment. Of the eight flats, the landowners received one flat each, while Roy kept two and sold the remaining five for Rs 18-22 lakh each. Many buyers reportedly paid in cash, noted the report.

Barnali Karmakar, a flat-owner, recounted to TOI, "The tilt started a few years ago, and we were asked to pay Rs 1 lakh each for repairs. We refused, and in 2022, the promoter said he would handle it with an agency. We signed a contract in 2024, and had moved out by December."

Niladri Bakshi, who bought a flat for Rs 18 lakh in 2014, said, "We don’t know where to go now. The building is gone, and we have no home."

Former RSP councillor Debasis Mukherjee raised questions about the delayed action from KMC's buildings department and local officials when the tilt was first noticed four years ago. "Had they acted earlier, this disaster could have been avoided," he told TOI.