Owners write to President, PM demanding CBI Probe
Tarun Goswami
tarun@thestatesman.net
Kolkata, 1 July
Flat owners at Kolkata West International City (KWIC) have approached the President and Prime Minister demanding a CBI inquiry into an alleged scam over the construction of flats and bungalows there.
Erstwhile chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee ~ who had inaugurated it ~ had declared KWIC as his “ dream project”.
But now, the owners of the row of houses in clusters C and D ~ which were supposed to have been handed over to them in November 2008 ~ are running from pillar to post for redress.
Interestingly, the Trinamul Congress, which pledged to fight against corruption, is silent on the issue and two ministers, Mr Partha Chatterjee and Mr Firhad Hakim, refused to intervene due to the involvement of Mr Prasun Mukherjee, the state government’s blue-eyed businessman.
This is despite requests of help from the flat owners in writing.
There are 399 row houses in clusters C and D. Professor Mritunjay Chakraborty (flat number D7/17) is paying Rs 25,000 as EMI.
“I have lost all hope and it has become nearly impossible to pay the EMI. Had this been a western country, the promoter would have been arrested for cheating,” he said.
Mr O P Bangar (C 0401) is even worse off.
The construction of his bungalow has just begun.
It’s priced at Rs 88.7 lakh, of which he has already paid Rs 70.96 lakh.
On top of that, his EMI is Rs 55,000. Mr Anurag Jain (C 503) has paid nearly 90 p.c. of the price of his flat.
He said his family had been badly hit by the delay.
The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) cleared the master plan on 21 September, 2005. Construction began in 2006, but the pace is slow.
The KMDA also cleared the construction of six 14-storey residential buildings on 21 April, 2011.
The foundation of two towers has only just begun, but over 50 p.c. of the payment has already been taken from the flat owners.
Asked when the houses would be handed over to the owners and when the construction of all the towers would begin as The Statesman has received several complaints from the owners, Ms Pallavi Banerjee ~ on behalf of Mr Prasun Sengupta, director, KWIC Private Limited ~ said The Statesman would have to furnish the complaint letters to corroborate this claim as they keep updating the buyers.
But she was silent about when the houses would be handed over to the owners and the construction of the towers would begin.