At a time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed all the civic bodies to take stringent measures against unauthorised construction, some builders are going ahead with the expansion of a restaurant flouting all laws in Salt Lake. This has resulted in huge financial loss to Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation as commercial activities were carried out by just paying property tax which the flat owners used to pay.

They did not pay any commercial tax. Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation has issued a stop-work notice on January 8. But despite that, work is going on in full swing. Interestingly, the Ward 34 office is just 200m away from the disputed site. Oleander Cooperative Housing Society came up with four shops on the ground floor. Of the four shops, two shops were never opened while the other two got closed more than a decade ago. A builder set up a restaurant taking over possession of the four shops.

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No permission from the cooperation department of BMC was taken. An inquiry conducted by The Statesman revealed that a one room flat was purchased by Arunabha Laskar on the ground floor (Flat 1) while another flat was purchased by Swaraj Kumar Basu (Flat 2). The residents of the cooperative said Mr Laskar and Mr Basu did not come to stay at the flat even for a day. Investigation revealed that Mr Laskar is a the brother-inlaw of Mr Jiban Basu, while Mr Swaraj Kumar Basu is the brother of Mr Basu.

Mr Basu stays at CG block. The builder pulled down the two flats on the ground floor to expand the restaurant. Work is going on in full swing. A senior official of the state Cooperation department said no permission was taken to pull down the flats from the department. Senior officials of the BMC’s building department said no permission to renovate the flats were taken.

The residents said the restaurant owners used to put up their employees in a flat on the fourth floor. Gas cylinders were stacked there and despite repeated complaints the owner refused to remove them. The residents are spending days in anxiety as they feel that pulling down the flats on the ground might affect the foundation of the building