Don’t allow any construction material on road, says Hakim

Kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday instructed the Director General (DG) Building and all executive engineers of the Building department not to allow any construction material on the road and ensure that construction work of buildings is carried out with a proper cover. “It has come to my notice that construction materials on road had choked drainage in some areas causing waterlogging. It should be ensured that no construction materials lie strewn on road and if the concerned developer does not follow this, we will slap stop work notice. The Commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has strict order regarding this and it should be executed strictly,” said Hakim. He added that covering a building during construction is mandatory to curb pollution while in case of old buildings too, there should be a netting to prevent any injuries to passersby by sudden fall of chunk of such a building.

The Mayor further directed the building inspectors to be lenient in case of minor deviations in building plan and slap notice only when they come across illegal construction or major deviations. “Inspectors have a tendency of slapping notice under 401 even in case of minor deviations like variations in the kitchen for vastu factor, slight change in room plan, creating veranda space through cantilever , constructing the boundary wall a bit longer etc. I am urging them to regularise those buildings having such minor deviations through proper procedure. However, if they come across a major change in building plan like constructing a 4-storied with permission of construction of a 3-storied or similar irregularities, 401 notice must be slapped. The matter will then come before the hearing officer and accordingly steps will be taken against such illegal construction as per the officer’s directions after hearing of the matter,” the Mayor said.