Kolkata Civic Body Has Decided to Demolish Highly Unsafe Buildings

Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to demolish highly unsafe buildings across the city which has become unsafe in the monsoon. The decision has been taken by Mayor Firhad Hakim at the civic body’s monthly meetings last Saturday. The issue came into highlight when a Congress councillor, Prakash Upadhyay asked to know about the future of unsafe buildings across the city.

The mayor admitted that it was becoming very difficult for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) buildings department official to protect various old structured buildings which have become old and caught major cracks.

The mayor assured that the civic body (KMC) would take care of the rights of the tenants and assure that no tenants are removed. He further said that authority doesn’t want people to lose their lives following the collapse of unsafe buildings in the past – especially in the monsoon season.

In most cases, it is seen that tenants have to lose their lives every time an unsafe building collapse. The residents maintain to stay in the old and dilapidated buildings and rarely depart in fear of losing the property.

Hakim ordered the buildings department officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation to recognize very weak and unsafe buildings and demolish those at first to save the lives of the occupants.

After identifying and demolishing an old and dilapidated building, the civic body will set up temporary or alternative homes for the tenants at the site. Apart from that, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s assessment department will register the names of each and every tenant to protect their concern. Subsequently, the buildings department officials will also be ordered not to approve plans of any buildings or structures on the same land without proper rehabilitation of the tenants. By doing this, KMC wants to assure the tenants that nobody will lose their house after demolishing of the dilapidated building.

As per Kolkata Municipal Corporation buildings department’s senior official admitted that more than 100 buildings across the city were in an unsafe condition and needed to be demolished as soon as possible.

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