The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will deal with the culprits of the building at Garden Reach Road that came crashing like a house of cards at midnight, with stern hands, informed mayor of KMC Firhad Hakim today.
Considering the fact, the civic body has sent show cause notice to the borough officials including sub-assistant engineers of Borough XV, under which Ward 134 falls where the five-storey building collapsed last night.
The notice came in the backdrop of the questions that came to the fore after the collapse of an under-construction building in Ward 134 of KMC. Following the incident, the civic body came under the flak of the opposition councillors and several questions were raised, including how such a multi-storey building did not catch the eyes of anyone, either the councillor or the concerned departments of the civic body. Allegations by the local residents were also made that the building was illegally constructed by filling up a water body and that the local councillor was well aware of the fact.
According to sources, a team under the DG building of the KMC is investigating the incident while another team of the BLRO has been deployed to find out about the presence of a water body on the plot where the building was constructed.
As informed by official sources, the KMC show caused the borough officials. The building department of the KMC today has also identified six buildings, including illegal and ‘dangerous’ structures in the area that are to come under the hammer of the civic body. In addition, the assistant sub-engineers have been instructed to go out in the field and carry out the demolition works immediately after their attendance.
The engineers’ body of the KMC, however, claimed that the engineers are over burdened with too much work which makes them unable to carry out the tasks allotted. “Those who are absolutely new in the field are given loads of work. We have informed the authorities repeatedly that handling more than one ward is not possible for a new engineer. Despite the fact, at densely populated places like Garden Reach, an engineer has been given the responsibility of three wards. Doing so much work by a new person within such time constraints is difficult,” claimed Manas Sinha, secretary of the KMC engineers’ body.