Kolkata: A roughly two-feet-long snake was spotted in the printing department of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters on Wednesday, leading the civic body authorities to contact the Forest Department which dispatched personnel to handle the situation.
The snake-spotting is learnt to have temporarily halted operations in the affected section with staff being relocated for the same.
One security person is said to have spotted the snake first. On the rest of the staff being alerted, the room was evacuated and doors were shut. At the time this report was filed there was no confirmation of its capture. However, ones who spotted the reptile opined that it is unlikely that the snake is a
venomous one.
However, this wasn’t the first time a snake was first spotted in the KMC headquarters. On November 13, 2024, a snake was spotted in the chamber of deputy mayor Atin Ghosh. It reappeared on November 14 near the balcony of the Councillor’s Club. This had caused widespread panic over two consecutive days, with staff describing the building as a “snake habitat” due to its proximity to overgrown areas and the Hooghly River.
While no bites or injuries have been reported in these incidents, the presence of snakes poses a risk in a busy civic office handling thousands of daily visitors, said a KMC official.
The repeated incidents have fuelled demands for structural audits and pest control upgrades. Some of the employees have voiced frustration over working conditions, with some likening the building to a “zoo”.