12 Kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday reprimanded KMC buildings department officials for "intentional delay" in demolishing unauthorised structures. He said they should be decisive and, in case they had to confront land sharks, they should apprise him so that he would be able to ensure their protection during the razing operation.
"Why don't you act and act swiftly? People call KMC ‘chorporation' because of your inefficiency. The institution is portrayed in bad light and people have the right to criticise us if they don't receive services from our end," said Hakim, after receiving a complaint call during the interactive ‘Talk to Mayor' session on Saturday. The call was made by a woman from R K Chatterjee Road in Kasba, claiming the civic demolition team had failed to pull down portions of a five-storey building, parts of which were constructed illegally.
Hakim acknowledged that it was challenging for KMC buildings department in boroughs to prevent the "hooligans" from carrying out illegal constructions or stop their bid to raze the structures. It was incumbent on the senior officials to inform the municipal commissioner or the mayor's office so that he could liaise with the city police commissioner and get the unauthorised razed without resistance.
KMC buildings department executive engineers have been instructed to maintain stringent surveillance on unscrupulous developers in the city but an official claimed the ever-mushrooming illegal buildings amid escalating real estate prices required a special team to demolish them. "Such a team is essential to confront developers who have been resisting the civic buildings department's endeavours to pull down unauthorised structures," said an official, adding the administration was firm on acting against developers violating rules.