West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday expanded the state’s special structural audit of under-construction high-rise buildings to cover additional municipal areas, saying the government was acting swiftly to prevent a repeat of the Taratala warehouse collapse that has so far claimed 15 lives.
Addressing a press conference at the Public Works Department (PWD) Tent in Kolkata’s Maidan, Adhikari announced that South Dum Dum, Kamarhati and Baranagar municipalities had been brought under the audit, while selected wards of Howrah Municipal Corporation and Bally would also be covered.
Construction sites along the banks of the Hooghly river where work is underway will also come within the audit’s ambit.
“The areas along the banks of the Ganga where construction is underway will also be covered. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department and Howrah Municipal Corporation will jointly identify the wards,” he said.
The expansion comes a day after the state government suspended high-rise construction across the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area, New Town, Rajarhat and several adjoining municipalities following the Taratala warehouse collapse.
Chief Minister Adhikari clarified that the order applies only to under-construction high-rise buildings and does not cover Railway and Metro Railway projects, National Highway works, State Highway Development Corporation projects or any other Central or State government infrastructure. Government offices, emergency service facilities and routine home renovations have also been exempted.
“As soon as the plans and physical structures in a ward are audited and cleared, construction there will be allowed to resume. There is no need for everyone to wait together. We have no intention of bringing urban development to a standstill. Our objective is to prevent incidents like those at Garden Reach, the fire incident and Taratala. Human life is extremely valuable,” he said.
The Chief Minister clarified that, for the purpose of the audit, a high-rise residential building would mean one with Ground Plus Five (G+5) floors.
Renovation or extension of existing residential houses, including repairs to verandas or staircases and the construction of additional kitchens or toilets, will not be affected, provided the required permissions have been obtained.
“Please do not create confusion,” he said, reiterating that only under-construction high-rise buildings fall within the scope of the order.
Adhikari said detailed operational guidelines would be issued by the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department by Friday evening. He added that the audit committee, headed by Additional Chief Secretary Rajesh Pandey and comprising senior officials along with experts from RITES and IIT Kharagpur, had begun work immediately.
“We want to act swiftly to protect the lives of people in Kolkata, and that is exactly what we are doing,” he said.
Replying to questions on accountability if the audit uncovers illegal approvals or serious violations, Adhikari said six people have already been arrested in connection with the Taratala collapse and that the Kolkata Police Crime Branch was treating it as a major investigation.
“The Commissioner of Police is personally monitoring the investigation, and I am receiving regular reports. The person against whom allegations were initially made has also been arrested,” he said.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Wednesday’s Taratala warehouse collapse rose to 15 on Friday, as rescue teams equipped with ground-penetrating radar, sniffer dogs and heavy engineering equipment continued searching the debris for anyone still trapped beneath the rubble.
Three of those killed were minors who had been employed as construction workers at the site, police said. Nineteen injured workers remain under treatment at SSKM Hospital, several of them in critical care.
The under-construction warehouse collapsed after iron beams and corrugated metal sheets supporting freshly poured concrete gave way under its weight, trapping dozens of labourers. Officials said rescue operations were continuing because there was no official record of the number of workers present when the structure collapsed, although witnesses estimated that between 50 and 60 labourers had been working there.
The Army’s Eastern Command deployed four columns and seven specialised teams, while seven NDRF teams comprising 210 personnel continued the search operation. Heavy rain on Thursday had slowed the rescue effort.
Chief Minister Adhikari announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 1 lakh to every injured person. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for each injured person.
Police said the FIR has been registered under Sections 105, 110 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Six people, including one of the owners of Behera Brothers, structural engineer Kamal Samanta, supervisor Syed Mohammad Gulzar, labour supplier Dibakar Bhandari, broker Abdul Hamid and Kalicharan Banerjee, former Officer on Special Duty to ex-Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, have been arrested.
In the assembly on Thursday, Adhikari alleged that the sanctioned building plan carried Hakim’s signature and blamed alleged irregularities during the previous Trinamool Congress government for the collapse. He also named several Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials and questioned the approval process for the warehouse.
Following Kalicharan’s arrest, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul demanded that Hakim should also be questioned, alleging that he should not escape responsibility as the then Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister and Mayor of Kolkata.
On Friday, senior Trinamool Congress leader and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh demanded Hakim’s arrest.
“The Chief Minister said that the building plan has the former Mayor’s signature. Then arrest the former Mayor. Don’t use the document just to create political pressure,” Ghosh said.
Hakim, however, denied any wrongdoing, saying the Mayor has no role in approving individual building plans.
“Thousands of plans get sanctioned every day. There is a process around it. I cannot be blamed for this,” Hakim told The Statesman.