West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday announced that the architect and designer responsible for supervising the under-construction warehouse that collapsed in Taratala would be blacklisted.
Speaking at the Public Works Department (PWD) Tent in Kolkata’s Maidan, Adhikari said the Kolkata Municipal Corporations’ Commissioner and administrator Smita Pandey will initiate the process once government offices reopen on Saturday.
“In this particular case, the architect and planner responsible for supervising the project are being blacklisted. Architects, planners, designers, their firms and everyone associated with them are responsible for supervising approved projects. They had given an undertaking that they would supervise the work. However, in the Taratala case, there was no supervision. Therefore, we are blacklisting the architect and designer from today,” he said.
Calling it “only the beginning”, the Chief Minister warned that any architect, planner or designer found neglecting supervisory responsibilities in future would face similar action, adding that the government would formally institutionalise the measure through an administrative order.
He also vowed to dismantle what he described as the “illegal nexus” surrounding construction activities in Kolkata and said every individual found to be involved in violations would face action.
“We will break every illegal nexus in Kolkata. Whoever is involved, irrespective of their position, will face action. No one will be spared,” Adhikari said, adding that the blacklisting of the architect and designer is only the first step in fixing accountability.
The announcement came as the death toll in Wednesday’s warehouse collapse rose to 15, while rescue teams continued to search the debris for anyone who might still be trapped.
On Wednesday, the under-construction warehouse came crashing down after the iron beams and corrugated metal sheets on which concrete had been poured failed to withstand the weight of the concrete mix, trapping dozens of labourers inside.
According to Kolkata Police, the deceased have been identified as Krishna Chowdhury (49), Rohit Chowdhury (20), Chandrama Chowdhury (60), Rahul Chowdhury (17), Pappu Kumar Rajak (40), Ghee Kumar (17), Asgar Hussain (54), Sahil Sardar (17), Hasan Imam (44), Ganesh Kalandi (45), Navin Singh (44) and Swapan Mondal (56), besides two unidentified men aged about 45 years each.
Most of the victims were declared brought dead at SSKM Hospital. Ganesh Kalandi later succumbed to his injuries, while four bodies were recovered during the extended rescue operation. Nineteen injured workers remain under treatment at the hospital, some of them in critical care.
The warehouse was being constructed by a private operator on a 6,689 sq m plot leased from the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority.
At least one worker was rescued alive on Wednesday as personnel from the Kolkata Police Disaster Management Group, the Fire and Emergency Services, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Civil Defence, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the army continued round-the-clock rescue operations.
Heavy rain on Thursday hampered rescue efforts, but operations continued on a war footing on Friday.
Senior police officers said the search operation was continuing because there was no official record of the number of workers present when the structure collapsed. Witnesses estimated that between 50 and 60 labourers had been working at the site.
The Army’s Eastern Command deployed four columns and seven specialised teams equipped with engineering machinery, medical personnel and ambulances. A 10-bed emergency medical facility has also been established near the site.
“Seven NDRF teams comprising 210 personnel are at the site. We are searching through the rubble to look for people still trapped inside,” a senior NDRF officer said.
Addressing the state Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Adhikari said an FIR had been registered and six persons arrested in connection with the collapse. Describing the warehouse as structurally defective, he ordered the suspension of ongoing construction projects within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area and adjoining Rajarhat, Sonarpur, Baruipur and Maheshtala pending a comprehensive audit of sanctioned building plans.
He also announced that a high-level committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary Rajesh Pandey would investigate the collapse and submit its findings within seven days.
The Chief Minister blamed alleged irregularities and corruption during the previous Trinamool Congress government for the incident.
Adhikari named several Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials, including Aminur Sheikh, sub-assistant engineer; Nirmalendu Sardar, assistant engineer; and Ranjan Das, executive engineer, alleging that they had failed to discharge their responsibilities in connection with the project.
He also referred to former Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim’s then Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Kalicharan Banerjee and said, “Kali ke tulle shob beriye jabe (Picking up Kali will reveal everything),” alleging that no building plan in the KMC was passed without his approval.
Displaying documents in the Assembly, Adhikari claimed the sanctioned building plan carried Hakim’s signature. Calling it a “faulty design”, he questioned whether the then Trinamool Congress administration had been unaware of what was happening within the KMC.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kolkata Police arrested Kalicharan Banerjee, late on Thursday, hours after the Chief Minister publicly said he should be “picked up”.
Police said the FIR has been registered under Sections 105, 110 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt to commit culpable homicide and common criminal liability.
The FIR names six accused.
Police arrested one of the owners of Behera Brothers, the company that had commissioned the construction of the warehouse on land leased from the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority. The company is primarily engaged in storing and packaging tea.
The other arrested persons include structural engineer and metal fabricator Kamal Samanta, supervisor Syed Mohammad Gulzar, labour supplier Dibakar Bhandari, and broker Abdul Hamid, who allegedly helped obtain approval from the municipality for the warehouse’s structural plans.
Following Banerjee’s arrest, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul demanded that Hakim also be questioned, alleging that the sanctioned building plan bore his signature and that accountability could not stop with officials.
“Why will Firhad Hakim be spared? He must be questioned. He will not be spared. He has to take responsibility for these deaths,” Paul told The Statesman late on Thursday.
On Friday, senior Trinamool Congress leader and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh went a step further, demanding Hakim’s arrest.
“The Chief Minister has said the building plan bears the former mayor’s signature. Then arrest the former mayor. Don’t use the document merely to create political pressure,” Ghosh said.
Hakim, however, rejected the allegation, saying the mayor had no role in the technical approval of 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 on Friday.