An internal survey by the land and land reforms department and the South 24-Parganas administration has identified 130-odd illegal high-rises in a single Kolkata Municipal Corporation ward.
The findings have set off alarm bells in the wake of the collapse of an under-construction building in Garden Reach that killed 10.
The survey was conducted over the past three months and the report was submitted recently.
Sources in the South 24-Parganas district administration said the report found out that these structures — mostly G+3 and G+4 — came up without any sanction from the authorities on government plots in areas such as Ajaynagar, Ganganagar, Dineshnagar, Mukundapur, Green Park, Nitai Nagar and Panchasayar in ward 109. The ward falls in the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency and is spread across 7.09sqkm.
“Soon after the report was drawn up following the survey, it was sent to Nabanna. We have been awaiting instruction on the next course of action,” said a source in
the district.
Multiple sources told this correspondent that these illegal structures posed a risk to the people living there.
“The building plans were not approved as these structures came up on encroached government land.... In the Garden Reach incident, the plot may have been disputed, but it was owned by private parties. Here, all the structures are on government land,” said a source.
“If a mishap occurs in any of these buildings, it would be a huge embarrassment for the authorities,” added the source.
According to sources, the land and land reforms department had ordered the survey after complaints that illegal structures had come up on government plots in wards 107, 108 and 109 of the KMC.
“It has come to our notice that the problem of illegal buildings without sanctions on government land has taken a critical shape in ward 109,” said a source.
Although the findings of the report have set alarm bells ringing in the top echelons of the state administration, a source said there was very little the government could do now.
“The elections are approaching.... You can’t expect any action. The report will be buried in some file,” said a source.
Officials aware of the development said illegal structures had mushroomed in ward 109 mainly for two reasons.
First, its locational advantage — the EM Bypass is on the eastern fringes of the ward while railway and Metro stations in Garia are easily accessible.
Second, the abundance of government plots in various refugee colonies in the area, far away from the focus of the civic authorities and the district administration, gives realtors an opportunity to flout rules.
The sharp rise in illegal buildings has had an impact on the demography in the area, said a source. According to the 2011 Census, the ward had a population of 64,567. However, the population now has more than doubled, with a sizable part living in unauthorised structures.
“This is an area that has grown rapidly in the past 10 years or so…. It is very surprising that none of the authorities — be it the KMC, district administration of South 24-Parganas or the land and land reforms department — noticed that so many land parcels were taken over and high-rises built,” said a bureaucrat.