Flat owners stop KMC from razing Tangra’s tilted building

Kolkata: The demolition team of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) accompanied by the police faced stiff resistance from flat owners on Thursday when they reached Tangra’s Christopher Road to raze the under-construction tilted building to the ground.

Earlier, Mayor, Firhad Hakim, had said that the civic body will demolish the under-construction building which had leaned towards another building causing the latter to also tilt. This new building was already declared to be an ‘illegal construction” by the KMC engineers. However, efforts to demolish it on Thursday remained futile as a crowd of irate protestors said they wouldn’t allow it and would only speak to the mayor.

The protestors complained that there are several illegal constructions in the area and the building concerned isn’t the only one. They demanded to know where they would go if the structure is demolished and said they bought the flats with hard earned money.

The protestors staged a sit-in demonstration, paying no heed to the police. They said if their building is to be demolished then the rest of the illegal constrictions in the area too need to be razed to the ground first. The protestors said who would compensate for their financial losses.

The protestors also said that if the building is demolished then they first need to be rehabilitated. They demanded that the Mayor be called to the spot while also alleging that the demolition was to begin on February 3 but without any notice the KMC has sent demolition teams on January 30 without intimating them.

Mayor had recently advised that buyers must check for registration of developers with RERA. He said buyers must also check for building sanction plans and completion certificates before buying houses. Hakim said rules have now been simplified for obtaining sanction for building plans to ensure there are no unauthorised constructions.