Narrating his experience with unauthorised constructions in the city, a retired Supreme Court judge said something on Thursday that many Kolkatans have come to know by now — that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s demolition job is often mere tokenism.
Retired Supreme Court judge Asok Kumar Ganguly said that within a month of KMC engineers demolishing a part of an unauthorised construction near his house adjoining Kabitirtha Park in Kidderpore, the broken portion was repaired and two new floors were added.
This is something many Kolkatans have complained about since a five-storeyed allegedly unauthorised building collapsed in Garden Reach on March 17 and killed 12 people.
A six-storeyed building on MN Chatterjee Sarani in Narkeldanga was built illegally and the civic body had demolished two of the top floors boring holes in the concrete in January.
Residents of the area said within weeks, construction resumed on the site and continued till Calcutta High Court intervened and ordered the building’s demolition.
“I could point out specifically about Kidderpore because it is something I have witnessed. Two floors were demolished and two more added. So, this demolition is just a show. Nothing is being pulled down,” Ganguly told The Telegraph.
“This menace has spread all over. Unauthorised buildings are being constructed indiscriminately. Bhanga ta toh show (the demolition is just a show),” he said.
On Bibi Rasoi Lane in Bowbazar, to the south of Medical College Kolkata, the builder allegedly rebuilt the demolished portions of a building within two months of the first demolition by a team of KMC officials and workers. A week ago, the civic team began demolishing the illegal portions.
Engineers admitted the nature of the first demolition work was such that the damaged portions could be repaired.
As with the six-storeyed building in Narkeldanga, the demolition squad in Bowbazar had left after cutting square or rectangular portions of the concrete slab on the floors that were built illegally. These portions were later repaired.
“The damaged portion is repaired by first welding the iron rods that are left jutting out with the ones on either side of a rectangular or square hole. This ensures the continuity of the iron rods,” said Himadri Guha, a former professor of civil engineering at Jadavpur University.
“Concrete mix is then poured to fill the gap and the damaged portion stands repaired. Whether this repaired part returns to its original strength or not is a separate matter. But this demolition exercise that is undertaken by the KMC team is nothing but tokenism,” he said.
Guha had led a team of engineers to assess the condition of buildings in Bowbazar after subsidence in the East-West Metro construction site underground threatened the stability of several buildings in the area and necessitated the evacuation of residents in 2022.
Several engineers from the buildings department of the civic body said most of those buying apartments in unauthorised buildings are often not concerned about the strength of a repaired portion. They want to move in because buying an apartment in such a building is often affordable.
“The per square-feet price of apartments in pockets like Bowbazar, Beleghata and Narkeldanga are quite steep for authorised constructions, which is often not affordable for this section of buyers,” said a senior engineer of the KMC’s buildings department who did not want to be named.
“This explains why our teams face stiff resistance during any demolition job,” he said.
A structural engineer said the columns and beams of a structure carry the load of a building and the concrete slabs — or floors — act as fillers. Unless the beams and pillars of an illegal structure are demolished, the builder can always repair the damaged bit and add a few floors, several engineers said.
“The building’s stability does not get compromised to a large extent,” an engineer said.
“One does not need a drilling machine or any other heavy machinery for this. A skilled labourer needs to be engaged who will demolish the structure piece by piece. Slabs, columns and beams, everything needs to be demolished,” said a senior engineer with a construction company engaged in building bridges and flyovers.
“Using drilling machines may not be safe for the floors below, which may be authorised constructions. A plain hammer and mortise chisel is enough,” the engineer said.
A senior official of the KMC’s buildings department said the previous practice of boring squares or holes in concrete slabs and floors had now been stopped.
“The demolition team visiting an unauthorised building pulls down the entire concrete slab so it can’t be repaired in the future,” the official said.
