KMC to construct 1,800 Banglar Bari houses under Uttaran scheme
The Statesman | 18 February 2026
Aiming the development of the slum areas in the city, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is planning to construct 1,800 Banglar Bari houses under the Uttaran scheme at a cost of over 164 crore.
According to Mayor Firhad Hakim, the civic body has completed 323 Banglar Bari under the Uttaran scheme at the cost of 21 crore so far. The civic body is putting efforts to complete 1,800 additional Banglar Bari houses by spending around 164.73 crore. “Land has been identified for developing around 1,022 such facilities that would be developed in the near future,” informed the mayor during the concluding session of the proposed annual budget for 2026-2027, held today. “For this, Rs 58 crore would have to be spent,” he added.
Responding to the opposition’s claims, Mr Hakim shared the list of expenditures made by the civic body on various initiatives. According to the information shared, the municipal corporation spent Rs six crore on 23 scientific compactor stations. “Representatives from Bangladesh visited us to see how our compactor system works,” said the Mayor. “For removal of legacy waste, at Dhapa a processing plant has been set up at the cost of 73 crore. For procurement of primary collection, around Rs 300 crore have been spent. Recently, we have acquired 73 hectare of land for a processing plant from the farmers and work has been started on the project costing around Rs 1,000 crore. In the sewerage department, to address waterlogging in pockets like Mohammad Ali Park and Kabitirtha, around Rs 160 crore have been spent.
Apart from this, for the ongoing works at Rishikesh Park, Milk Colony, Moyla Depot and Pana Bazar around Rs 428 crore are being spent, underscored the mayor. In addition, for the improvement of the drainage system around Rs 404 crore have been spent while linking of various drainage systems, costing Rs 51 crore. For upgrade of brick sewerage, which were more than 100-year-old, around Rs 61 crore have been spent while one more brick sewer is being upgraded at the cost of Rs 480 crore.
At Dai Ghat, which gets inundated till Kalighat temple, a barrage is being constructed at the cost of Rs 132 crore and Tolly Nallah preservation is being carried out at Rs 1,092 crore,” pointed out the Mayor.
As per the data shared by the Mayor, work worth 1,065 crore have been done in the added areas while projects costing around Rs 1,071 crore are under progress by KEIIP.
The mayor also informed the House about the increase in revenue collections achieved by the civic body in the ongoing fiscal. As stated by the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister, the KMC recorded a growth of around 2.3 percent in assessment tax collection. In the Licence department, the civic body has seen a growth of 26 percent. “If we see the assessment growth report closely, we have seen a growth of around 27 percent from the previous years,” reiterated the Mayor.
Replying to the issue raised by some of the opposition councillors over illegal constructions, the Mayor informed the House that KMC has demolished 11,539 unauthorised buildings in five years. The municipal corporation has razed 850 illegal constructions in the past two years. “We are very serious about illegal buildings. The roster system for illegal constructions is still in place,” he said. The Mayor also reiterated that if a concrete complaint against any official is received, he would not hesitate to suspend even the highest ranking official.
“We have given sanctions to unauthorised ones but those were small plots. The sanctions have been given by the hearing officers and we have passed it at the MMiC meeting,” he added.