A group of New Town residents have sent a letter to the deputy commissioner’s office in New Town about “disturbances caused and immoral activities carried out by different guesthouses” in some residential blocks.
Residents of AL Block in Action Area I sent the letter to the office of the deputy commissioner of police, New Town, seeking “urgent police intervention”.
A copy of the letter has been sent to New Town Development Authority (NKDA) chairman Debashis Sen.
Pallas Das, an air traffic controller at Kolkata airport and the president of AL Block, told The Telegraph that multiple guesthouses had mushroomed in the residential block.
According to the letter from the residents, at least five residential cooperatives have been turned in part or full into guesthouses. Most of these allow guests to check-in till late at night, the letter, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, said.
On most days, guests who want to check-in come inebriated and often kick at the gates and parked cars to make the caretakers open the gates. This disturbs the peace and tranquillity of the neighbourhood, the letter said.
Das told The Telegraph most guesthouses have converted the parking lots of standalone buildings into reception areas. Often, trouble breaks out at night among guests and guesthouse employees over a host of issues, including payment.
“We are living in fear for our families because groups of men and women openly start using filthy language and often kick the gates and our cars when a fight breaks out,” said Samir Bhuniya, a resident of the block.
In Kolkata and Salt Lake, a building has to be recorded as a commercial property with the civic body’s urban development department if a guesthouse or lodge operates out of it, an official of the department said.
“In case a guesthouse is operating out of one or two floors of a residential building, the floors need to be converted into the commercial property category by paying a fee to the urban development department,” the official said.
Operators of a guesthouse or lodge need a police permit to run such a facility, a no-objection certificate from the fire department and a certificate of approval issued by the tourism ministry.
The kitchen needs to be listed separately and is subjected to checks by the civic body’s health department at regular intervals.
The building plan needs to be sanctioned by the civic body.
“Most guesthouses in New Town do not have permits and other papers. They do not even have trade licences, which is a basic prerequisite,” the official said.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said they would start checking if guesthouses operating in New Town had valid paperwork.
The NKDA, too, is planning to conduct a survey of guesthouses in New Town.
Operators who fail to furnish licences and permits will be given some time before the authorities take legal steps against them, an officer said.