Firm on the corporation’s stand of demolishing illegal constructions, mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Firhad Hakim, slammed one of his councillors for allegedly resisting the pulling down of an illegal structure in Baghajatin yesterday.

Firhad Hakim asserted that no public representative can intervene in the ‘judicial matters’.

The mayor was reacting to an incident where a local councillor of Chittaranjan Colony in Baghajatin resisted against the demolition of an illegal portion of a building being carrying out by KMC officials.

According to sources, the storey structure had been constructed illegally. However yesterday when the demolition squad of the civic body along with the police started the work at around 11.30 am, a protest started against it within a few hours and the local councillor, Sima Ghosh, allegedly obstructed it claiming that there had been a misunderstanding but that also was resolved.

Notably, the mayor of KMC recently had urged the councillors to stay alert on illegal construction during a house meeting. The mayor had also instructed that borough chairman would be informed of how much land has been gifted by the owners and how many building plans have been sanctioned in each ward during the borough meeting.

The chairman would then share the information to the councillors who are sometimes unaware of such developments. The mayor had also declared to suspend the assistant engineer, if activities of illegal constructions were not reported at the initial stage of such buildings. According to sources, the borough officials in this case had informed the KMC about the illegal construction.

The councillor’s alleged resistance comes contrary to the decisions of the civic body. However, affirming that there’s no role of the councillors’ in the administrative works, the mayor said that the administration will work according to its own rules and will again go to the place with the police for demolition if the structure is illegal. “The administration works on either court orders or on the basis of hearing orders. No public representatives can intervene in the judiciary matters,” reiterated Mr Hakim.

Sources in the corporation today informed that the Building Department is considering conducting another demolition of the illegal construction soon.