Residents protest as KMC plans demolition of unsafe building on Christopher Road, – Homevior

KOLKATA: A day after Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) announced that the under-construction building on Christopher Road, on which an older building tilted, would go under the hammer first next week, residents who bought flats there demonstrated outside the building on Tuesday. They demanded compensation from the civic authorities before the demolition begins.

“We bought a 700 square feet flat on the second floor of the apartment for Rs 21 lakhs. So far, we paid Rs 12 lakhs, selling off our jewellery and whatever little we could save over the years. Once the flat was handed over, we were supposed to pay the rest of the amount by taking a personal loan. Now, if the building is demolished, what will happen to the money we invested?” asked Bina Rai, who lives in the same neighbourhood.

The G plus 5 building next to Pushpanjali apartment, whose electricity has already been disconnected and residents have been asked to move out, has 24 flats, 23 of which have already been sold, residents said.

“The building came up on a 3.5 cottah land belonging to three landowners – my father Bhairo Singh, Maya Maiti, and Kanai Pramanik. We moved out of our tolly shed houses in Aug 2023, shortly after which work began. The work was supposed to be over in 14 months, but it has been delayed. We were offered two flats – a 1BHK flat and a shop on the ground floor and another 2BHK flat on the 2nd floor. If they demolish the building, we don’t have money to rebuild our home again,” said Rajni Singh, daughter of Bhairo Singh, who works at a food stall in Esplanade.

Since the tilted buildings came in the news last week, promoters of both properties have been absconding. However, KMC building department sources on Tuesday made it clear that the civic body, under no circumstances, would spare the building from demolition. “A collective decision was made at a meeting on Monday to start the demolition of the building that came up next to the tilted building without sanction. We will start our demolition work in time,” said a KMC buildings department senior official.