Suman Chakraborti | TNN
Kolkata: After years of inaction, Bidhannagar Municipality has begun a drive to demolish unauthorised buildings in Salt Lake, a move undertaken by the new Trinamool-run civic board.
Weeks ago, an illegal garage beside a building near the City Centre mall was demolished after locals complained that it was a nuisance in their locality. The civic authorities found that the structure had been built after bypassing building rules.
“We are receiving numerous complaints of such buildings mushrooming in the township, flouting prescribed building rules. We are conducting surveys and preparing a list of such buildings and will carry out demolition drives,” said chairperson Anita Mandal. Mandal herself has taken up the responsibility of sanctioning building plans.
The new board has taken up the issue of illegal buildings quite seriously. Complaints about illegal extensions in commercial highrise complexes are pouring in from areas surrounding Karunamoyee and City Centre mall, which have both residential and commercial plots.
The civic authorities have also found that drainage and sewer lines of residential houses have been illegally connected to each other at many places. The authorities are sending notices to all households of the township, asking houseowners to disconnect drainage and sewer lines that are connected to those of other houses. The civic authorities will themselves take action if the instruction is not carried out, said sources.
Biswajiban Majumder, who was chairman of the previous Left Front-run municipality, had earlier come out with allegations that building rules had been flouted while constructing several hundred buildings in the township and that party bigwigs had ensured that the municipality did nothing to stop such illegal acts.
Though illegal transfer of plots and buildings violating rules is another issue, in most cases the houses that have been built violating rules are those that have been illegally transferred more than once. The civic body had received numerous complaints in the past of building plans being violated after being transferred to a new lessee. In many cases, violations in building rules have been made by constructing additional rooms or structures on top or behind a building.
In some cases, underground spaces have been constructed. According to civic estimates, more than 100 buildings in the township have been constructed in violation of building rules. In many cases, no action could be taken against the offenders as many of them moved court after receiving notices from the municipality.
A part of a building that was demolished by the civic body
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