Only about seven percent of the under-construction multi-storey buildings in and around Kolkata, which were inspected by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) following the recent collapse of a warehouse at Taratala, have received clearance from the high-power committee set up by the KMC. After the collapse that resulted in 16 fatalities, the KMC halted construction on ongoing multi-storey projects within its jurisdiction and formed a committee to assess the previous clearances granted by the Trinamool Congress-run KMC board.
A total of 160 under-construction multi-storey structures were reviewed by the high-power committee, with only 11 of them obtaining clearance. This indicates that merely 6.87 percent of the structures have been approved by the review committee. Over the past three years, 344 applications for multi-storey buildings were submitted in Kolkata, with 200 projects identified for inspection in the initial phase. Of these, 160 sites were physically visited by audit team members to assess the quality of construction work.
KMC Commissioner Smita Pandey disclosed that serious defects and negligence in clearance procedures were found in 23 out of the 160 reviewed structures. These issues included substandard construction materials and a lack of concern for worker safety. Work on the 23 buildings with identified defects has been ordered to stop immediately until the issues are rectified in compliance with regulations. The remaining 41 under-construction buildings are undergoing scrutiny by the technical sub-committee before further decisions are made.
