Mayor Firhad Hakim on Monday told engineers of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) not to bow to political pressure and tell those trying to flaunt political influence to obtain an order against the demolition of a illegal building from him.
Hakim told the engineers that they should also keep senior officers of the KMC informed about instances of non-cooperation by police or flag them during the fortnightly meetings with deputy commissioners of police.
Hakim was speaking to sub-assistant engineers, assistant engineers and executive engineers of the civic body. He said the senior officials who function from the KMC headquarters are dependent on these engineers, the civic body’s “hands and feet”.
The tone and tenor of Hakim’s address on Monday was different from the last meeting he held with sub-assistant engineers on March 20, two days after an under-construction building collapsed in Garden Reach’s Azhar Molla Bagan. Thirteen people were killed in the collapse. The KMC said the structure was unauthorised.
Hakim had then slammed the engineers and said he sometimes felt he was heading an inefficient and corrupt organisation. The mayor had also pinned down an engineer from Garden Reach and told him that he was either corrupt or inefficient.
On Monday, he sounded mellow in comparison. “We are dependent on you. For us, who are sitting at the KMC headquarters, you are our hands and feet. You are the ones who go around and identify illegal buildings,” he said.
Many engineers felt Hakim’s address on Monday was an attempt at assuaging the hurt among a section of engineers.
“I have been told that there are some places where engineers feel afraid because they receive threats while taking action against illegal buildings. I am not asking you to risk your life,” Hakim said on Monday.
KMC engineers said they issue a stop-work notice whenever an illegal building is identified. There are allegations that the KMC does not keep track of what happens thereafter.
The KMC has now prepared a standard operating procedure (SOP), which makes it mandatory for engineers to alert the police whenever an illegal structure is identified.
Once that is done, the civic body has to issue a stop-work notice to the owner of the builder. A copy of the letter should be sent to the officer in charge of the local police station, the deputy commissioner of police of that division and the joint commissioner of police, headquarters.
The engineers were also told on Monday that if required, the KMC commissioner would seek the city police commissioner’s help in the drive against an illegal building.
“You need to identify the (illegal) buildings and serve a notice (to the builders or owners),” Hakim said. “Make an entry in the log book, inform the police and also inform your seniors in the headquarters.”
A demolition cell is being set up in the KMC headquarters, especially to carry out demolition in “sensitive areas”, Hakim said. The engineers, members of the demolition squad and the police will move from the headquarters to the building to be razed and carry out the demolition.
The cell is being set up, Hakim said, to ensure that civic engineers at the local level do not face threats.