Telegraph India: Kolkata: Saturday, April 5, 2025.
The tampering came to light after a Creek Row resident filed an RTI appeal about the 1-cottah 15-chhatak plot with the civic body. He wanted to know whether the KMC had approved any new building on the plot
The Kolkata Municipal
Corporation’s (KMC) assessment records were “tampered with” to get permission
to construct a five-storey building off Creek Row, Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim
said on Friday.
The tampering came to light after a Creek Row resident filed an RTI appeal about the 1-cottah 15-chhatak plot with the civic body. He wanted to know whether the KMC had approved any new building on the plot.
According to Sayantak Das, who had filed the RTI, the reply revealed that a five-storey building was approved under a special provision meant for tenanted buildings.
Das said he and several other neighbours then wrote to the KMC that a two-storey building on the plot never had any tenants.
“I applied to see the inspection book (IB). I was shown both the physical copy and the copy on the online server. The discrepancy came to light at this point. The name of the tenant was there in the physical IB record, but not uploaded online,” said Das.
The IB record is the primary report prepared by KMC officials after field visits and mentions the necessary details about a property.
The plot on Mahendra Sarkar Street, off Creek Row, in Ward 50, had a two-storey building standing till last year. The demolition started a little after Durga Puja.
“The inspection book records of the KMC were tampered with. This is a criminal offence. The complainant has also filed a criminal case. We have forwarded the matter for further probe. Whoever is involved will be punished,” Hakim said.
The mayor admitted that people within the KMC could be involved in it.
“The property owners had manipulated the records, seemingly with help from someone within KMC, to show tenants were living in the building. This allowed them to take advantage of a provision in KMC’s building rules that lets additional built space in tenanted buildings compared to what is allowed in a plot of similar size and with roads having similar width, but with no tenant,” said Das.
Section 142 of the KMC’s Building Rules allowed additional built-up area in a building if it has tenants, said officials.
The special provision was included to ensure that all tenants in such buildings got space in a new building once the old one was demolished and a new building was built.
The assurance of space in the new building would convince the tenants to leave their space in a crumbling building and ensure that dilapidated buildings were pulled and new structures replaced them.
“We have revoked the permission for the new construction,” Hakim added.
The tampering came to light after a Creek Row resident filed an RTI appeal about the 1-cottah 15-chhatak plot with the civic body. He wanted to know whether the KMC had approved any new building on the plot
The tampering came to light after a Creek Row resident filed an RTI appeal about the 1-cottah 15-chhatak plot with the civic body. He wanted to know whether the KMC had approved any new building on the plot.
According to Sayantak Das, who had filed the RTI, the reply revealed that a five-storey building was approved under a special provision meant for tenanted buildings.
Das said he and several other neighbours then wrote to the KMC that a two-storey building on the plot never had any tenants.
“I applied to see the inspection book (IB). I was shown both the physical copy and the copy on the online server. The discrepancy came to light at this point. The name of the tenant was there in the physical IB record, but not uploaded online,” said Das.
The IB record is the primary report prepared by KMC officials after field visits and mentions the necessary details about a property.
The plot on Mahendra Sarkar Street, off Creek Row, in Ward 50, had a two-storey building standing till last year. The demolition started a little after Durga Puja.
“The inspection book records of the KMC were tampered with. This is a criminal offence. The complainant has also filed a criminal case. We have forwarded the matter for further probe. Whoever is involved will be punished,” Hakim said.
The mayor admitted that people within the KMC could be involved in it.
“The property owners had manipulated the records, seemingly with help from someone within KMC, to show tenants were living in the building. This allowed them to take advantage of a provision in KMC’s building rules that lets additional built space in tenanted buildings compared to what is allowed in a plot of similar size and with roads having similar width, but with no tenant,” said Das.
Section 142 of the KMC’s Building Rules allowed additional built-up area in a building if it has tenants, said officials.
The special provision was included to ensure that all tenants in such buildings got space in a new building once the old one was demolished and a new building was built.
The assurance of space in the new building would convince the tenants to leave their space in a crumbling building and ensure that dilapidated buildings were pulled and new structures replaced them.
“We have revoked the permission for the new construction,” Hakim added.
.JPG)
.JPG)
