A demolition squad of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) was gheraoed and shouted at on Wednesday when they went to pull down an illegal five-storey structure in Kasba.
The team could not enter the building and was stranded outside for nearly an hour.
Eventually, they could get in and managed to pull down a portion of the roof. Earlier on Tuesday, another team of the KMC had to return from the site in the face of protests.
“One of our team came back yesterday (Tuesday), unable to start the demolition. A separate team from the headquarters went there on Wednesday. We reached the site around 1.30pm but could start demolition for an hour,” said a KMC official. “The entire five-storey structure has been built without KMC’s approval,” said the official.
A senior KMC official said the civic body had asked for more police presence when its team faced resistance and could not start the demolition on Tuesday. “We went to the site on Wednesday with a larger police team,” said the official.
An officer of Kasba police station said they gave police personnel as per availability. “We have extended support to the KMC,” said the officer.
People have started living in the building, which made the demolition task more difficult. KMC officials have said earlier that it becomes tougher to pull down such illegal structures as the residents start resisting the demolition, which is why the KMC is now attempting to identify illegal constructions at an early stage and pull down the building immediately.
“I do not support any illegal construction. The law will take its course,” said Baiswanor Chattopadhay, the councillor of Ward 91.
KMC sources said they have pulled down around 850 buildings or illegal portions of buildings in the last two years.
The KMC has also decided to set up a demolition squad in its headquarters that will move to sensitive areas or places where resistance is anticipated and carry out demolition orders. This will be done to make the local officials in the ward or the borough immune to pressure from residents.
A standard operating procedure prepared by the KMC following the collapse of the Garden Reach building has made it mandatory for engineers to inform the police when an illegal construction is identified.
Once engineers of the civic body identify an illegal construction, they have to serve a stop-work notice to the owner or the builder.
A copy of the letter should be sent to the OC of the local police station, the deputy commissioner of police of that division and to the joint-commissioner of police, headquarters, in Lalbazar.
