Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has urged the owners and residents of buildings which are more than 40 years old to get the health of the houses examined by structural engineers who are enlisted with the civic authorities.
Under Section 143 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, the owners and residents of buildings can engage structural engineers who are enlisted with KMC to examine the conditions of the structures and give suggestions for their repair. In case the houses are beyond repair, the owners can pull them down to make room for new ones with proper rehabilitation of the tenants under Section 412 A of the KMC Act and Building Rule 142. In such cases, the owner will get additional FAR.
In case the owners do not repair the old buildings and continue to stay in them, the KMC will auction them and engage builders to demolish them and construct new houses to rehabilitate the owners and the tenants.
Meanwhile, the KMC has set up a six-member committee headed by the joint municipal commissioner to prepare a list of dangerous and dilapidated buildings. The Borough executive engineers will identify the buildings. Once they are identified, KMC will take opinion of the engineers of the Jadavpur University.
Senior civic officials said the step will help to save the lives of owners and tenants who continue to stay in old buildings which have been declared as condemned by KMC. So far, eight people have died in 2017 after portions of old buildings collapsed. They maintained that there are over 2,000 such buildings in the city. Most of the old dangerous and dilapidated buildings are situated in Boroughs 1, 2, 3,6, 7,8,9 and 10.
It may be recalled that Mayor Sovan Chatterjee took the initiative to amend the KMC Act so that the civic authorities are empowered to pull down old buildings where the owners will refuse to repair.
Civic officials said that there are hundreds of old buildings in the city where the owners are untraceable. These buildings are occupied by tenants who are basically encroachers. Under the present Act, these buildings can be pulled down to set up new houses.
Civic officials hoped that owners of old buildings will respond to KMC's request and take appropriate measures.