Collapse kills girl, KMC razes portion of decrepit building
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has demolished the portions of a dilapidated building at Durgacharan Street under Burtolla Police Station where a teenage girl died after the balcony collapsed.
A teenage girl died due to the collapse of a balcony in a four-storied building. The police reported that the incident occurred on Friday night in Durgacharan Street, under the Burrabazar Police Station area. The deceased teenager was identified as Hetal Mali (17).
After a preliminary investigation, the police stated that Hetal lived with her parents in the four-story building on Durgacharan Street. Around 10 PM on Friday night, she was standing on the fourth-floor balcony, talking. Suddenly, the balcony measuring four feet by ten feet collapsed, taking Hetal down with it.
Hearing the sound of the fall, local residents rushed to the scene. Before the police arrived, locals rescued the teenager. She was taken to RG Kar Medical College Hospital in a critically injured condition, where doctors declared her dead. An autopsy of Hetal’s body was conducted on Saturday.
According to sources in the KMC, the building is nearly a hundred years old. The KMC had previously issued a ‘dangerous’ notice for the building. Currently, 65 tenants reside there. It is alleged that despite instructions to repair the building, no action was taken. Sunanda Sarkar, the councillor of Ward 18 in the area, told the media that the teenage girl had stepped out of her room and was standing in front of the balcony when a portion of it collapsed. She sustained multiple injuries to her body, including a severe head injury.
She was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital. The deceased’s parents, originally from Gujarat, both sell utensils. On Saturday morning, the KMC demolished the dangerous portions of the building. Sources said a police complaint against the owner for negligence was filed. This action aligns with KMC’s ongoing efforts to address hazardous buildings, having demolished 150 illegal or unsafe structures in the past year as part of a broader safety drive.
