Might have made a mistake: KMC to review rooftop resto notices
Times of India | 9 May 2025
Kolkata: A week after the civic body slapped its first closure notice on a rooftop restaurant and announced that such facilities would not be allowed to operate in the city, KMC on Thursday said it may have made a mistake in a hurry and was willing to acknowledge the error and withdraw such a notice if the establishment concerned was able to conclusively prove that it had been granted permission to undertake the construction on the terrace by the buildings department.Till date, the civic body has served notices on all major rooftop restaurants and pubs in the city. Notices have also been served on restaurants operating in malls. Four rooftop resto-bars, including the one whose structure was demolished by a civic team, had moved court. "We served notices to 83 rooftop establishments over the weekend. Our employees were in a hurry and may have made some mistake as they couldn't verify the list provided by Kolkata Police. If the owner of any such rooftop establishment approaches our buildings department with proper documents, we are ready to rectify our error," said aKMC buildings departmentofficial.The buildings department executive engineers have been asked to search for documents within their jurisdiction and rectify their records.The decision was taken after the owner a south Kolkata-based rooftop restaurant reportedly produced valid documents provided by the KMC buildings department to operate the establishment. Operation SindoorOperation Sindoor: Several airports in India closed - check full listDid Pak shoot down Indian jets? What MEA saidIndia foils Pakistan's attack on Jammu airport: What we know so far"We immediately informed our officials in the boroughs to check records relating to the functioning of these rooftop establishments," said a civic official.Sources in the KMC said rooftop restaurant owners have requested the civic buildings wing to seek approval for resuming services.Civic officials claimed there was no pressure to back off and raised concerns about accountability in case of any unfortunate incidents. "Who will take responsibility if a fire occurs and lives are lost?" an official questioned.According to buildings department records, the majority of the rooftop restaurants that have been served notices have no documents. "We have searched for records but hardly found any document that can conclusively prove that the establishments that have been served notices were given permission for constructing rooftop cafes, lounges, or restaurants. Still, we feel if any such establishments can produce any valid documents relating to buildings department permission, we will mend our ways and may withdraw notices served under section 401," said a senior KMC official.