The KMC buildings department officials have come up with a borough-wise list of highly insecure buildings across the city for demolition. Parts of these buildings may crumble during monsoon, the civic brass fears.
“We have visited several areas and taken stock of the condition of dilapidated buildings, parts of which need to be razed to save those residing in them. In some cases, we have pulled down highly hazardous parts of some dilapidated buildings as part of our special drive,” said a civic official.
A section of the KMC buildings department officials is extremely worried over several highly dilapidated buildings in areas like Burrabazar, Chitpore, MG Road, Beadon Street, Jorasanko, Jorabagan, BB Ganguly Street, Lenin Sarani, SN Banerjee Road, Elliot Road, Tiljala, Bhowanipore and Kidderpore.
A civic official, however, conceded that the task of demolition would be challenging. “We need to be selective in demolition of insecure buildings or highly dilapidated parts of those buildings. We have identified 2,500 buildings across the city as insecure ones. Of these, the condition of over 300 buildings is pathetic. They need urgent attention. But, we did not have the infrastructure or time to raze so many hazardous buildings before monsoon. So, we have identified extremely vulnerable buildings and will pull down parts of those in the next one month,” said a KMC official.
According to a KMC buildings department official, demolishing insecure buildings or parts of them in some parts of the city can’t be done without vacating them. “We have been striving hard to vacate a number of buildings in large areas of central Kolkata, including SN Banerjee Road, BB Ganguly Street, Lenin Sarani, Taltala, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Elliot Road and Ripon Street, among other areas. But owing to resistance from a section of tenants, we could not demolish parts of these buildings,” said a KMC building department senior official. However, the civic body is determined to pull down some parts of these buildings with the help of police.
