More than 90% projects didn’t have any structural issue: Audit
Times of India | 11 August 2026
Kolkata: More than 90% of the highrise projects that underwent safety audit in the past month and a half were found to be structurally sound with no major deviations from plans sanctioned by the respective civic body, officials of Credai, the developers’ umbrella body, said on Monday.
They said about half the audited projects already received the nod to resume construction, while another 43% projects were expected to receive the go-ahead within a week.
“After the Taratala warehouse collapse, the govt had identified 706 projects. Of them, 595 projects provided the necessary details and applied for audit. The govt has already granted clearance to 204 projects and conditional clearance to 89 more that have minor compliance issues, most of them to do with labour laws. Another 250 projects are to be reviewed on Monday. The govt has indicated that unless they spot a major irregularity, these projects will also be cleared before Aug 15. Till now, only 26 projects have been detected with major violations and none of them are being developed by members of Credai,” Credai West Bengal president Sushil Mohta said.
The non-compliant projects that may be penalised by the govt are in Park Circus, Garden Reach, Kamarhati, Baranagar and Bally, Credai officials said. The violations detected include constructing more than what was sanctioned and not leaving the prescribed mandatory free space around the building.
Credai officials said a majority of the 115 projects that did not apply for audit comprised govt or institutional buildings, including Loreto House, which should have been exempt, and buildings that already applied for or received completion certificates from the respective municipal bodies. “There would be only 10-12 under-construction projects that may not have applied. We are trying to identify them and tell the developers to submit the application,” said Credai Howrah-Hooghly president Tamal Ghosal.
Credai lauded the govt for focusing on ease of doing business, which it said led to the near stamping out of syndicates and extortions that plagued the industry and cost nearly Rs 100-150 per sq ft, but it called for equal emphasis on speed of doing business as delays led to cost escalation. The confederation said it has already urged the govt to allow a moratorium of eight months to factor in disruptions caused by SIR, assembly elections in the state, supply issues due to the war in Iran, and the stop-work for a month and a half due to the audit.
“The scrutiny was done in a thorough manner with remarkable speed. Credai extends its full support to the govt in its actions against building violations. We urge home buyers to only but units in projects that are approved by regulatory body RERA. We view the exercise as a positive for the industry as it will reaffirm buyers’ confidence in projects that are cleared,” said Credai Kolkata past president Siddharth Pansari. Credai Kolkata past president Nandu Belani and member Ashok Saraf were also present.