KOLKATA: The early evacuation of Sabita Basu, a resident of 9 JL Nehru Road, has been quite distressing for her. In fact, the evacuation has been so stressful for Basu, who had not stepped out of her home of 30 years since her dentist husband Samir’s demise four years ago, that she ended up having a panic attack on Monday night.Basu thought she was having a heart attack. “It (the panic attack) came out of the blue around midnight. My heart seemed to be beating in my throat. I was struggling to breathe. There was cold sweat on my forehead. My mouth was dry. My left arm was numb and I felt as if I was dying,” she said. A relative was called in. She called for a cardiologist who connected her to an ECG monitor, placed an oxygen mask on her face, administered sedatives and diagnosed her with panic attack.On Monday evening, she was told that she would have to move the next day due to the East-West Metro tunnelling work. The 70-year-old, is now trying to come to terms with the temporary relocation, which — according to a notice pasted on the wall of the crumbling structure — was due on Thursday.The date of evacuation was brought forward because KMRC, the implementing agency of East-West Metro, and contractor ITD ITD-Cementation wanted the structure to be vacant for extensive mitigation.The nine people living on 9 JL Nehru Road were the first evacuees for this section of tunnelling. Five of them are Basu’s employees, who take care of her and look after her husband’s clinic on the first floor. “I made it clear to the Metro authorities that they will have to accommodate my employees as well,” Basu said.Three rooms have been booked — two for Basu and the third for the Baxamusa family, with two senior citizens and their 90-year-old mother.“I guess the anxiety was triggered by the imminent evacuation and the sudden death of my sister-in-law. I am fine now,” said Basu. “I hadn’t ventured out of my second-floor flat for so many years. That’s why I put on so much weight,” she sighed, watching television in her room at a central Kolkata hotel.The other building that was evacuated was 1A, SN Banerjee Road. But since it is occupied by offices, no relocation was needed.

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