Darjeeling Municipality, which is facing allegations of turning a blind eye to the rapid growth of highrises, demolished portions of five hotels that were covering the drains on Friday.
A bulldozer broke concrete slabs that were blocking the drains in front of the hotels along the Cooch Behar Road.
“We had served a seven-day notice to these hotels to clear the drains. As they failed to act on their own despite the expiry of the notice period, we decided to clear the drains,” a councillor said.
Many believe that the intitiative by the municipality board, headed by chairman Dipendra Thakuri, was prompted by the recent pan-Bengal drive.
Sources in the civic body said they had identified “some more places” in the town and a similar drive would be undertaken in these areas from Monday.
Darjeeling received more than three inches of rainfall in the last 24 hours and almost every place in town was waterlogged owing to clogged drains or buildings and roadside stalls encroaching on drains.
“Action should also be taken against highrises in town that have not made adequate provision for drainage,” a resident said.
According to Rule 162 of the West Bengal Municipality Building Rule 2007, hill municipalities can sanction building plans up to a height of 11.5 metres and
civic bodies have to obtain prior approval of the state government for construction up to 13.5 metres.
Darjeeling Municipality remove some illegal encroachment in front of the hotel at Darjeeling on Friday. Telegraph picture
A four-storey building roughly measures 11.5 metres but hundreds of buildings in Darjeeling have been conveniently flouting this norm for years.
In 2015, the Darjeeling civic body had identified 337 illegal highrises in just eight of the 32 wards. The same year notices were sent to 61 buildings but no concrete action was taken.
The eight wards covered Chowrasta, Chowk Bazar and Judge Bazar.
The earlier civic board of the Hamro Party had tried to take action against highrises and had even started a demolition drive. However, the board was toppled by the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) before the drive could gather steam.
