The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday handed occupancy certificates to nine tenants of a Pathuriaghata building, portions of which collapsed on Wednesday night resulting in the death of a woman.
There are 26 tenants in the building. All of them will get the certificates, mayor Firhad Hakim said while handing out the certificates.
The occupancy certificate documents the presence of a tenant in a building and ensures the tenant is allotted space when a new building comes up in place of the old, crumbling structure.
Civic body officials said an amendment to the KMC Act has made it mandatory to mention the names of the tenants and the area allotted to them when a new building plan is approved for the plot. These measures en-
sure that the tenants are not evicted when an old building is pulled down, said KMC officials.
The owner of the building will have the scope for additional construction, more than what building rules would allow on any other plot of similar size and with roads of similar width surrounding the plot.
Among those who received occupancy certificates on Friday was Adarsh Agarwal, the elder son of Ila Agarwal who died after she was trapped under debris from the collapse.
“We are handing over occupancy certificates to some of the tenants today. The rest will get the certificates soon. This certificate is a document that ensures the tenants’ right to occupancy in the new building that will come up in place of the old one,” Hakim said.
He urged residents — tenants and owners — of old and crumbling buildings to come forward and make use of laws to pull down the old structures and build new and secure structures.
Every year, during the monsoon, portions of old buildings collapse, injuring and sometimes killing residents.
A KMC official said tenants often refuse to vacate an old property even if the owner wants to pull it down and erect a new building fearing they will not be allotted space in the new building.
The occupancy certificates will allay these fears as it records their presence in the old building.
“The new building plan will not be approved by the KMC unless it clearly demarcates the space allotted to tenants,” Hakim said.
A KMC official said the plan will have tenants’ names and the area marked for them in the new building.
Hakim said he has spoken to the fire minister so that the fire brigade gives some relaxation in case of old and crumbling buildings with many tenants when it is pulled down and a new one is built.
A no-objection certificate is required from the fire brigade when a building taller than 15.5m (the usual height of a five-storey building) is built. The NOC is given if the driveway in the building is wide enough for a fire tender to enter.
Civic officials said many old buildings in north and central Kolkata stand on plots where such a wide driveway is not possible. The fire department has been requested to relax its rules in the case of such buildings, said the officials.