Kolkata: Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday announced a four-week suspension of all construction projects in Kolkata and adjoining municipal areas, barring emergency and relief-related work, to facilitate a safety audit of under-construction buildings. The suspension will cover all the 144 wards under KMC as well as municipal areas of Rajarhat, New Town, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, Pujali, Sonarpur and Baruipur.Pointing out that permissions for many of these projects were granted during the tenure of Trinamool-run corporations and municipalities, Adhikari said the audit would examine if safety measures and building rules were being strictly adhered to. “Those who think they can escape responsibility should know that no one will be spared,” Adhikari said at the assembly. He named and accused several municipal officials and engineers of gross negligence, pointing out they were responsible for field inspections and oversight. Adhikari said strict legal action was being initiated against sub-assistant engineer Aminur Sheikh, assistant engineer Nirmalendu Sardar and executive engineer Ranjan Das after a preliminary report found dereliction of duty.The chief minister announced the formation of a 10-member committee, headed by additional chief secretary Rajesh Pandey, which will investigate the collapse in Taratala that claimed 11 lives so far. The committee, which will include additional chief secretary Khalil Ahmed, KP commissioner Ajay Nand, KMC commissioner Smita Pandey, principal secretary fire and emergency services Rajesh Kr Sinha, DG buildings and fire & emergency services Rachana Bhagat and Damodar Maity of IIT-KGP, submit its report within a month. A KMC buildings department official conceded that auditing all ongoing constructions across the 144 KMC wards would be a major challenge. “No less than 3,000 building plans are sanctioned every year. It will be a difficult task for us to audit each and every project within a specified time limit,” he said. He said some projects in KMC-added areas, such as Garden Reach-Behala, Jadavpur-Tollygunge, Park Circus-Topsia and neighbourhoods off EM Bypass, were likely to be in the buildings department’s focus.
