In the four years during which he has been answering calls from Kolkatans directly at the Talk to Mayor programme, complaints against illegal buildings have remained a permanent feature, an exasperated Firhad Hakim, the mayor of Kolkata, said on Friday.
Hakim, who made the comments during Friday’s edition of the weekly phone-in programme, asked civic engineers to ensure that illegal buildings are stopped at the construction stage.
Several senior officials of the KMC were present in the room when Hakim made the comments. The Telegraph was present, too.
It becomes difficult to pull down an illegal building once people start living in it as the administration has to think about the residents and take a humanitarian approach, Hakim said.
He also asked the chief engineer to take action against a couple of corrupt engineers so that it sends a message.
“Take action against one or two assistant and sub-assistant engineers who are not taking action. Act against some corrupt engineers and it will send a strong message to everyone. If a few lose their job, others will be afraid and start acting,” the mayor told the chief engineer of the KMC’s building department.
“I am not saying pick up one or two engineers randomly and take action against them. Act against those who are really guilty,” he later said.
Assistant and sub-assistant engineers of the KMC work at the ward and borough levels and they should identify illegal constructions and act against them.
KMC sources said there are many vacancies in the ranks of assistant and sub-assistant engineers. The engineers are saddled with multiple responsibilities and it becomes impossible for them to spot illegal constructions.