Multiple callers told mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday that illegal constructions were going ahead despite stop-work notices issued by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
The callers to the weekly phone-in programme Talk to Mayor said the KMC issued stop-work notices after the complaints were lodged, but in reality the work had not stopped.
Flooded by the complaints, Hakim told the chief engineer of KMC’s building department to assign engineers who will visit the building against which a stop-work notice has been issued and check the status. “They should take pictures everyday and see whether fresh constructions were being made or not.”
One of the callers, from Nimu Goswami Lane in Hatkhola, told the mayor that his neighbour was installing tin shed in the property despite the KMC having issued a stop-work notice. The mayor told the person that installing tin shed over a property without permission was illegal.
“How can this happen? Please go and check the site,” Hakim instructed the chief engineer.
A little later a caller from Bipradas Dey Lane, also in Hatkhola, said despite a stop-work notice by the KMC, an illegal structure, against which the caller had complained, was still being built.
Hakim then asked officials to take more stringent action against those who do not adhere to orders issued by the KMC. “Please demolish such illegal constructions under section 400(8) of the KMC,” he said.
A KMC official said that under section 400(8) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980, an illegal construction is pulled down without issuing any notice to the owner or the person accused of the construction.
