Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court was informed on Tuesday that 10 out of 560 unauthorised constructions in the East Kolkata Wetland Authority (EKWA) area have been demolished by the South 24 Parganas district administration.
The submission was made before the bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, who is monitoring the progress of demolition of illegal structures in the environmentally sensitive wetland region. However, EKWA’s counsel submitted that there are significant challenges in identifying and removing the remaining constructions.
The counsel pointed out the shortage of manpower and technical expertise within the district administration, stating that they had to divert all resources to comply with court orders, temporarily suspending other tasks.
The court was informed that the engineering staff includes only one assistant engineer and 11 junior engineers, currently overseeing 291 ongoing schemes.
The counsel for the South 24-Parganas district administration requested that expert bodies such as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation be directed to assist with the demolition, citing the lack of adequate resources to manage the scale of unauthorised construction.
Justice Sinha directed the EKWA to conduct a joint inspection of the area on June 26 and to notify all stakeholders of the inspection schedule, including the time and venue. The EKWA was further instructed to submit a report on additional actions taken and provide a detailed tabular statement listing the premises numbers, plot numbers and mouzas of all unauthorized constructions. During the hearing, one applicant submitted that although their building was identified as unauthorized, it had not been demolished yet, but electricity supply had been disconnected. Justice Sinha acknowledged the hardship faced by residents but emphasised the illegal nature
of the constructions.
Initially directing a halt on electricity connections, the court later allowed power utilities CESC and WBSEDCL to restore temporary electricity supply to the affected buildings while the matter remains under judicial consideration.
The next hearing is scheduled for August 5.