West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari tore into the erstwhile Trinamool Congress-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation over the Taratala warehouse collapse incident, saying that the Mamata Banerjee-led party had turned Kolkata also known as the ‘city of joy’ into a ‘city of death’.
“By taking money everywhere, you have turned the ‘City of Joy’ into a city of death. This accident is the result of your sins,” Adhikari said at the assemmbly on Thursday.
The Chief Minister also held up a copy of a document which shows the faulty building plan of the collapsed tea warehouse approved by then Mayor Firhad Hakim.
“Look here, this is the signature of the honorable Firhad Hakim. See how you approved a faulty building plan despite there being structural defects,” Adhikari said.
Firhad Hakim has now broken away from the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of TMC and joined the rebel group led by Leader of Oppostion Ritabrata Banerjee, who claim themselves to the ‘real’ party.
Fearing that there may be several other structures whose plans had been apporved by the former regime, he said, “It was a defective design. There is no telling how many such irregularities you have carried out.”
Adhikari warned that no one will be “spared” and no leniency will be showed towards anyone. “What have you people done…We have uncovered the entire fact-finding report,” he exclaimed.
The Chief Minister also claimed that a person identified as “Kali” played a key role in securing approvals for several construction projects.
“We know what has happened in Kolkata Municipal Corporation. If Kali is caught, all information will come out. No plan gets approved without Kali. Kali is constructing Trinamool Bhavan near the Bypass. An FIR has been lodged and action is being taken,” he said.
However, the chief minister didn’t divulge the details of Kali.
Meanwhile, The death toll into the Taratala warehouse collapse has now reached 11, latest reports suggested.
The chief minister has ordered a complete shutdown of all ongoing construction work, except for essential services, for the next four weeks in the Kolkata Municipal area, in addition to areas like Rajarhat-New Town, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, Pujali, Bishnupur, Sonarpur, Baruipur. He announced that during this period, all approved building plans will undergo an audit.
A high-level committee has been formed under the leadership of Additional Chief Secretary Rajesh Pandey including senior government officials as well as representatives from IIT Kharagpur, Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), Indian Railway Construction Limited (IRCON), the Fire Services Department, the Public Works Department, and the KMC.