KMC mulls extending time to occupants for vacating illegal structures
The Statesman | 2 June 2026
After instructions from Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is considering extending the time given to occupants of illegal structures who would be issued notice by the civic body.
The decision comes in the background of a high-level meeting, including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and officials of Borough IX in Alipore last Saturday. The Chief Minister is said to have given specific instructions to allow adequate time to the people being issued such notices. Following the instructions, the KMC could allow up to two week’s time to the people receiving notices against ‘illegal structures.’
Notably, a day after a massive fire claimed two lives at a leather factory in Tiljala, the ‘illegal building’ accommodating the charred commercial unit came under a bulldozer of the civic authorities. The residents of the building had claimed that the notice and bulldozer action had come on the same day and they were not allowed enough time to bring out their belongings including crucial documents. Later, the Calcutta High Court issued an interim stay on the demolition of the alleged ‘illegal structure.’ Last week, more than 50 residents of GJ Khan Road had also approached the HC and the court allowing a stay asked the civic body to allow adequate time before demolition.
The KMC has so far issued notice to occupants for giving time of two days or even seven days to occupants of the illegal structures before demolition. According to official sources, the civic body could now extend the time up to two weeks if the person receiving such notices would appeal for it.
Meanwhile, aiming to continue hammering the illegal structures, the civic body has asked six more boroughs under KMC to identify the illegal buildings under its limits. The instruction comes in after the municipal corporation identified around 3000 illegal structures in parts of Kasba, Topsia or even Ballygunge.