Kolkata Municipal Corporation to review rules for ‘dangerous & dilapidated’ buildings

The committee, headed by Mayor Sovan Chatterjee held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue. State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim, Chairman of the law commission, Pranab Chatterjee, representatives from fire brigade and state Municipal Affairs department were among the others who attended the meeting.

“The current rules for the ‘dangerous and dilapidated’ buildings will be reviewed before framing a report. We’ll then submit it to Municipal Affairs department. The state government will decide, whether the existing rules would be amended or not,” said a KMC officer, close to the development.

The Rule 142 of Building Rules, 2009, allows owners to enjoy additional 100 per cent space of tenant occupied portion, provided they will rehabilitate the tenants.

This will resolve the issue of dilapidated buildings which often pose serious threats in the city.

There are around 700 dilapidated buildings in the city which poses serious threats. Most of these buildings are situated in North Kolkata in areas like Ahiritola, Beliatola, Nimtala Ghat Street, Stand Road, Kalakar Street, College Street, Amherst Street, Mirzapur, Strand Bank Road and Tallah Park. KMC had issued several notices asking the owners to repair the buildings. “The owners of most of these buildings are no more while some of them even have multiple owners,” the officer added.

“We need to review the rule 142, which is of utmost importance in this regard. The Municipal Building Committee (MBC) earlier discussed the rule. Many owners have applied with us to pull down the old structure for setting up new building,” said the officer.

Over the past few decades, the city has witnessed some devastating fire in old buildings – some of which are over 200 years old and built on a sizable portion of the land. Most of the buildings have now become the stockpiles of garbage.

“The owners or even the tenants are willing face the constructive change. The review report would definitely bring good news for them,” the officer added.

However, a state secretariat source revealed that the Chief Minister had instructed the KMC to take necessary steps without wasting time. “We have also received several letters requesting to restore the house, as owners there were almost penniless,” the officer concluded.