A portion of the cornice of a house on the Durga Pituri Lane, near the East-West Metro construction site in Bowbazar, came crashing down on Friday morning.
The residents of this house were shifted out of their homes after the first subsidence in August 2019 and it has been vacant since. There was no injury on Friday.
A section of residents blamed Metro construction for the crash. Metro officials denied the charge.
The three-storeyed house stands on 6C Durga Pithuri Lane. Cracks appeared on several buildings on the same road in May 2022, prompting the evacuation of residents.
A cornice on the first floor of the house crashed around 6.45 am, said residents and officials of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, the implementing agency of the East-West Metro project, which will link Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan when fully operational.
Amit Sen, a resident of 9 Durga Pithuri Lane, had just brought his daughter back from swimming classes when the cornice crashed.
"I left my daughter at the doorstep of our home and was turning my scooter to go to the market. All of a sudden, a huge chunk of concrete fell on the ground," said Sen.
"A loud thud was followed by a wave of dust. I would have passed through the same stretch. Had the crash happened seconds later, I would have died," said Sen.
Residents of a majority of houses near the construction site, which has witnessed three subsidences since 2019, have been evacuated by the KMRC.
That includes the residents of 6B Durga Pithuri Lane and 6C Durga Pithuri Lane. But residents of 6A Durga Pithuri Lane are still living inside the house.
On June 12, the KMRC issued an evacuation notice to the residents of 6A and 9 Durga Pituri Lane because the houses fell in the "influence zone" of Metro construction. But within 48 hours, the notice was revoked. KMRC officials had then said the evacuation notice had been "deferred" because of "unavoidable circumstances".
KMRC officials subsequently told this newspaper that a reassessment showed that the houses were not in danger because of construction work.
Residents blamed the Friday crash on the underground piling work.
"The residents keep hearing loud noises and the houses vibrate through the night," said Pradip Laha, a doctor who lived on 10 Durga Pituri Lane.
Laha has for the past four years been living out of his home — first in a hotel, followed by a flat in Maniktala and now a flat in Salt Lake, all arranged by the KMRC.
"In a recent meeting with KMRC officials, we had complained about the vibrations and the noise," said Laha.
On Friday, the road had been cleared of debris when Metro reached the spot. But the remains of the cornice were visible on the first floor.
A poster at the entrance to the lane warned people from entering without helmets.
A KMRC official denied any link between Metro work and Friday's crash.
"The building is very old and not in good shape. The heavy rain for the past few days might have further weakened the structure. But Metro work did not lead to the accident," said the official.
About allegations of vibrations and noise, he said: "We have to work through the night and piling will lead to some noise. But the vibration is well within the permissible safety limit," he added.
An emergency evacuation shaft is now being built at the site. The work involves the construction of around 30 underground pillars, said an engineer.
On possible evacuations of the remaining residents, the KMRC official said the agency was "constantly monitoring the safety of the houses".
