A mother and daughter from Kestopur have alleged that they were made to touch the feet of the local Bidhannnnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) councillor and apologise to him for protesting what they called an illegal construction next to their property.
The exact location of the house and the identities of the complainants are being withheld because their allegations include harassment, abuse and assault of women.
When the ground was being dug for construction of pillars, they said, they realised that the owner was not leaving the mandatory space and the building was coming up along their boundary wall.
As construction gathered pace, they alleged, sand and cement and other garbage were being thrown into their property.
The daughter said when she complained about the illegal construction to Ashutosh Nandi, councillor of Ward 17 of the BMC, he refused to act. Instead, he allegedly harassed her mother, the daughter said.
In March, Nandi’s followers allegedly summoned them to the office of the councillor and the two were made to apologise for having protested against the construction.
They were allegedly assaulted by a group of women, made to touch the councillor’s feet in apology and then box their ears.
“The councillor said illegal and unauthorised constructions would continue in the locality and with his support. This he said in public,” the daughter told news channels on Wednesday. “I was made to say that I would not report about the construction at any forum and I had to apologise holding my ears.”
The daughter told TV channels that the leader and his group were furious because they had taken the complaint to the chief minister through the “Didi ke bolo” programme.
Councillor Nandi, while speaking to this newspaper, said the allegations against him were baseless. Earlier in the day, when asked to react to the allegations, he had told reporters in his office: “Today is the auspicious day of Rakhi Purnima. I’ll not talk about the issue today.”
The allegations come at a time urban development minister Firhad Hakim is regularly making public statements about the government’s keenness to crack down on illegal construction.
Parts of Kestopur and its adjoining areas have seen a spurt in construction activity and civic norms are allegedly often violated.
The police did not act on her complaints, the daughter told TV channels. In Bidhannagar as well as in Calcutta, councillors and the police are at times accused of playing a dubious role in regard to illegal constructions.
This newspaper could not reach Bidhannagar police commissioner Gaurav Sharma over the phone. Asked about the police’s role, a senior officer of the local Baguiati police station said: “Let us see what we can do.”
Councillor Nandi told Metro late on Wednesday evening that all the allegations levelled against him were baseless. “I will not comment on something that did not happen. This is a slander campaign to malign my image in the area,” he said. Asked if the mother and the daughter had been called to his office, Nandi said he did not want to say “anything further” on the matter.
Nandi’s boss and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation mayor Krishna Chakraborty did not answer calls from this newspaper.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said: “In the complaint lodged with Baguiati police station, they (mother and son) mentioned that they were regularly harassed by Nandi and his men. They also mentioned that construction materials were being regularly dumped in a way that their gate was blocked. They said they had protested but nothing happened.”