After the collapse of an under-construction building at Garden Reach that took away 10 lives, the mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Firhad Hakim, today sent out a strict message to the officials and engineers of the building department not to allow any illegal constructions at any cost.

Two days after the disaster, the mayor held a high level meeting with the officials of the Building Department along with the engineers and other employees of the 16 boroughs covering the 144 wards of KMC. According to sources, the mayor gave clear and strict instructions to the KMC employees not to allow illegal constructions even if the request came from the mayor himself.

A reportedly furious mayor urged the attendees of the meeting not to bow down to anyone, be it a political leader or an influential person. He also gave loud and clear instructions that everyone must obey the law. Mr Hakim also asserted that laws related to illegal construction should be strictly enforced.

The mayor is also said to have pulled up one of the show caused engineers of Borough XV and reprimanded him saying that so many people had died due to the latter’s mistakes and negligence. As learnt from sources Mr Hakim termed the engineer as either incapable or a thief. “People are calling me a thief because of your negligence. I don’t want to hear that. You put a notice on the opposite house. But why not put a notice on the house that was illegal?” asked the mayor.

As learnt from the sources, the mayor is also said to have said that such a big accident had happened because the engineer did not give a notice. The mayor is also learnt to have claimed that the latter did not give the notice for financial reasons.

During the meeting, which was attended by officials and employees of various ranks, the mayor has instructed to demolish illegal construction immediately and not wait for any instructions. He has also asked the borough-level building department engineers and officials to go out in the field, make a list of illegal constructions and submit it to the executive engineer who would talk to the municipal commissioner. The municipal commissioner would talk to the Kolkata Police Commissioner and arrange for the demolition of such illegal constructions.

According to sources, the civic body has started a departmental inquiry against the engineers, who were show caused on the day of the building collapse and given a 48-hours deadline for submitting their reply.

The civic body’s clerks’ union has demanded that not only the engineers but all responsible for the incident, should be punished. “Our main demand is that there are thousands of unauthorized constructions in Kolkata. Those responsible for it should be found out and punished accordingly,” said Amitava Bhattacharyya, general secretary of KMC Clerk’s Union.