The Hindu : Metro machine damages shop in Walled City

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Metro machine damages shop in Walled City

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 18. Panic spread through Gali Hakim Baqa near Hauz Qazi Chowk in the Chawri Bazar area of the Walled City last night when two slabs of a shop were damaged while a tunnel boring machine was working beneath it for construction of the underground Metro tunnel between Delhi Main and Chawri Bazar stations.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation - which has instituted an enquiry into the incident -- said the cave-in took place around 10 p.m. while the TBM was operating beneath the affected properties. While two slabs of a shop on property no. 3420 and 3421 were damaged, some cracks appeared in another shop located at 3414.

Stating that prima facie, an old cavity loosely filled up in between the tunnel and the surface level probably caused the incident and the damage was observed while monitoring of the structures and buildings while doing the tunnelling, the DMRC said, corrective measures were implemented immediately to stabilise the affected buildings.

As a precautionary measure, soon after the incident, nearby shops in the Shanti Market area were also evacuated and kept under observation.

The Corporation said its design engineers and the contractors were keeping a close watch on the affected structures and mitigation and remedial measures required for restoration work have been initiated. Also, it said the Central Building Research Institute at Roorkee has been asked to suggest additional precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the buildings.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of All India Traders has expressed grave concern at the "destruction'' of a commercial building due to the Metro work. Its secretary general, Praveen Khandelwal, said the damage caused to the building forced the officials to evacuate the building in an emergency situation at night itself and to shift the residents to other places.

Seeking proper compensation from the Government, he also used the opportunity to state that till date a large number of traders, whose properties were acquired for construction of the Metro project, have not been given proper compensation or an alternate place to do their business.

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