Kolkata: Following complaints of gross anomalies in using residential buildings for commercial purposes without valid permission, which surfaced in New Town last year, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has so far served stop-operation notices to 69 such buildings after inspection.
The authorities are now conducting block-wise assessment of close to 1,000 buildings which were earlier identified for suspectedly using more than the allowed 40% space for commercial use or doing business in the residential building without any valid permission.
Officials said that earlier in late 2024, around 1,200 buildings were identified as per complaints of suspected violations following a survey. "After the buildings were primarily identified, phase-wise inspections were carried out as the number of suspected buildings came down close to 1,000 as some of the establishments closed down business immediately and some were rectified. Following phase-wise inspections, gross anomalies were confirmed in 69 buildings to which notices have been served till Feb this year," said an official.
Officials said that at present, a thorough block-specific survey and assessment is going on in each suspected building as to its usage, and the authorities are expecting to come out with a concrete figure within the next two to three months on the exact number of building use violations.
Till mid last year, NKDA used to directly issue NOC to interested parties to use a part of residential buildings for commercial use. After receiving several complaints of gross violations and to prevent further violations, NKDA first started issuing provisional no-objection from Sept last year for a six-month period within which the applicant needs to submit all related documents and licence, only after which the final NOC to start a business is given to the respective applicant. Till now, the authorities have issued provisional no-objection to eight applicants and five of them have received the final NOC after furnishing all related documents, officials said.