Dengue drive: Ill-maintained properties under lock & key a concern for KMC

Ill-maintained properties that are under lock and key due to legal disputes are becoming a cause of concern for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in its fight against vector-borne diseases, forcing it to now consider breaking locks with the help of police for maintenance works.

The civic body is already facing heat in the wake of the rising number of dengue cases in the city. To control the situation, it has planned several strategies, including serving notices to violators of dengue guidelines and imposing heavy fines by taking cases to the municipal courts. Citizens are being made alert through awareness campaigns while talks are on with the state government to see if blood tests could be carried out at immigration points for people who are coming from Bangladesh where the number of deaths due to dengue is reportedly too high.

However, the issue that has been worrying the civic body is a large number of properties in the city that are under lock and key, mostly due to legal disputes among the family, or in some cases, the owner living outside the state and hence unreachable. Such properties, especially old ones, are becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes due to lack of maintenance. Monsoon has made matters worse in cases where the properties are in a decrepit condition, allowing rainwater to seep in. Adding to these, the premises of such properties have become a dumping ground for locals. Such conditions have paved the way for mosquito breeding, paving the way for a rise in the number of dengue or malaria cases in that particular area.

One such complaint has reached Mayor Firhad Hakim. The property is located in Ward 86 at 50/3 Garcha Road, opposite Hazra Law College. A resident of the area who lives adjacent to the property has conveyed his concerns to the Mayor. He said that the building is under lock and key for the past 10 to 12 years and is a subject of dispute between family members none of whom resides there. The roof of the building is said to have collapsed, allowing rainwater accumulation inside the property. The complainant said KMC had declared the property a ‘dangerous building’ and had demolished the balcony which was posing a risk of collapse. But no further steps were taken and now the roof has collapsed while trees and bushes have grown inside the building.

The complainant alleged that he had informed local councillor Sourav Das and had even informed the borough executive engineer, besides submitting a complaint at the local police station but nothing changed the situation. Mayor Firhad Hakim has ordered that a notice be slapped against the property and demolition be carried out of necessary.

Atin Ghosh, deputy mayor, said that councillors and health workers need to play a crucial role. He said that in properties which are found locked but without any maintenance work, KMC will break down the lock, clean the premises, attach a new lock, and inform the local police station. The cleaning bill will be attached to the property tax bill of that particular assessee.