Kolkata, Mar 19 (Representative) West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury on Tuesday demanded the arrest of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor Firhad Hakim, also the State Urban Development Minister, accusing him of being responsible for the deaths of nine people in an under-construction house collapse in the Ramadan month. Meanwhile, BJP leader Rakesh Singh on Tuesday moved a PIL in Calcutta High Court, demanding a CBI probe into the building collapse at the thickly populated Garden Reach, where dozens of such buildings came up, endangering the lives of common people. ISF leader and Bhangar MLA Pirzada Naushad Siddique visited the area of tragedy and opined that the situation there was pathetic.
He demanded the state government be held responsible for the deaths of nine people and those displaced after the collapse happened in their locality. The other opposition parties also mounted pressure on the TMC government, alleging the construction of illegal high-rise buildings in this metropolitan city. Firhad Hakim, who also visited the area, said one more building was tilted there and directed the building department officials to see the matter for demolition. He said he had been warning for the last few years against the random construction of buildings on the narrow lanes, but now it has become a social ill, and “I cannot understand why this is happening. but I will try to stop this.” Hakim said the deaths were very tragic, and the buildings department must oversee such illegal construction of buildings. He said he was not aware of the illegal construction, and the local councillor should not be blamed since the buildings department is entrusted to monitor those. ‘’ Since I became mayor, over 800 buildings have been demolished, of which 25 are at Garden Reach.”
Meanwhile, two engineers from the buildings department were shown. Former Mayor and CPI (M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya opined Hakim was shielding his party councillor (TMC). Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari alleged that since the TMC gained control of KMC in 2010, over 5000 water bodies have been illegally filled up and converted within the KMC area. There’s a “clear collusion” among local councillors, promoters, and police under the aegis of top TMC leaders. Illegal buildings were constructed on such plots without any approved plan or supervision from the KMC. He also alleged that 800 such illegal constructions existed in the Garden Reach Area.