At least one part of the plot on which the Garden Reach building that collapsed and killed 12 people stood is a pond in government records, an investigating committee formed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has found.
The committee has found that the building was standing on a 5-decimal plot, which is a little over 3 cottahs. The 3-cottah area was divided among four owners and one of the parts — a little over 430sqft — is recorded as a pond in the records, said a member of the committee.
Several residents of Garden Reach’s Azhar Molla Bagan, where the five-storeyed allegedly illegal building collapsed, had alleged that the building came up after filling up a pond. The findings of the probe committee vindicate the allegation.
The last few water bodies that exist in the city are being quietly gobbled up, the Garden reach records show yet again.
The probe committee was supposed to submit a preliminary report to the commissioner of the KMC on Saturday but failed to do so.
Committee members cited their inability to collect soil samples from the site as the primary reason for not being able to submit the report.
The rubble of the collapsed building is still spread over the 3 cottahs where the building stood, making it impossible to collect soil samples.
Collection of soil samples is necessary to know the load-bearing capacity of the soil or whether the soil had the capacity to support a five-storeyed structure.
“The soil test will determine the load-bearing capacity but for that soil samples have to be collected from the site first,” said an official of the KMC.
“We have to create a 10ftx10ft area so a machine can be installed to collect soil samples. We believe the soil samples can be collected by Monday or Tuesday,” the official said.
“We have found that the building stood on about 3 cottahs of land and this area is sub-divided into four parts in government records. One of the parts, which is about 1 decimal (over 430sqft) is a pond in the records of the state government’s land and land reforms department,” said a KMC official.
Apart from KMC officials, an official from the state’s land and land reforms department and a police officer are members of the probe committee.
The eight-member committee has sought help from professors from Jadavpur University’s civil engineering department to analyse soil, concrete and steel reinforcement samples.
The professors will also give their opinion on the possible reasons for the collapse.
A team sent by the professors collected concrete and steel reinforcement samples on Tuesday but they have not yet been able to collect soil samples.
The committee’s mandate includes finding out the quality of material used in the construction, the ownership of the plot and its nature — whether it was a water body or land where construction was allowed.
The probe committee visited the site in Garden Reach twice and met three times to discuss some of its findings.
Committee members said a visual inspection of the site revealed poor workmanship, improper mixture of material and the possibility of a weak foundation.
“Steel reinforcement rods were thinner than what should be used in a five-storeyed structure. The collapsed portions revealed that the binding of the concrete was not good. But these findings need to be corroborated by laboratory tests,” said a KMC official.
The official added that they did not submit the preliminary report on Saturday because the laboratory test results were not yet available.
The committee is also waiting for some information from the police like how many dwelling units were planned in the building and the area of each unit.
