Tangra tilted building incident: ‘Resisting demolition work will invite legal action’

Kolkata: With the civic body and police facing stiff resistance from flat owners in demolishing the tilted under-construction building at Tangra’s Christopher Road, the mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Firhad Hakim, on Friday said that action can be taken for obstructing public servant in discharge of duties while also assuring that alternative arrangements could be made under ‘Banglar Bari’ scheme if the entire building has to be razed.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, the mayor said that those obstructing KMC and police from going ahead with the demolition do not know that there can be legal consequences. “Most of them are doing so under instructions of the promoter. If they want to stop the demolition they need to do so through legal means. Muscle flexing won’t help,” Hakim said.

The mayor said none is above law and action is being taken in accordance with law. Asked if the entire building needs to be razed, Hakim said that decision will be taken by the structural engineers who will assist in the demolition work.

“If the entire building needs demolition then alternative arrangements could be made for the owners under the state government’s Banglar Bari scheme. For this, the flat owners would have to give us applications for the same,” he mentioned. Hakim also admitted that some of them belong from poor financial backgrounds and may have bought the flats with whatever money they could gather. He said that buyers are repeatedly being told to check for completion certificates (CC) and sanction plans before purchasing homes.

He also cited the Supreme Court order making obtaining of CC by developers mandatory without which no water or power connection will be given. “Even if we don’t demolish the Tangra building, how will the buyers stay there since we can’t give any water connections,” he pointed out.

Further, the mayor confirmed that an expression of interest is being floated to invite proposals from companies who are experts in building lifting work.

The civic body will select some of them after checking credentials. Such companies will be enlisted and referred to by KMC in case of any building lifting work in the city.