kolkata-mayor-takes-responsibility-of-the-illegal-building-collapse

Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim on Tuesday admitted his failure to contain illegal construction, labelling it a growing social menace in the metropolis.

 

The statement of Hakim, also the local MLA and urban development minister of West Bengal, came a day after the collapse of an illegal under-construction building in the Garden Reach area left nine people dead and 17 others injured.

 

The crumbling down of the building ahead of the Lok Sabha elections sparked a heated political discussion regarding potential corruption under the Trinamool Congress government in the state.

 

“This business of illegal construction has turned into a social menace, which we have failed to contain. But I am trying. There are a few other buildings in the area which have been identified as illegal. We will take steps against them,” Hakim told reporters.

 

Hakim, also the Minister for Municipal Affairs, also attempted to protect local TMC councillor Shams Iqbal amid allegations of collusion between him and the developer of the collapsed building, who was arrested.

 

“The job of checking illegal construction lies with the building department of the KMC and not with the councillor,” he said.

Deputy Mayor of Kolkata Atin Ghosh, however, differed with Hakim.

 

“The local councillor cannot shy away from his responsibility as the incident has happened in his area,” Ghosh said.

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to react, as it demanded the resignation of Hakim as the mayor of Kolkata.

 

“Firhad Hakim should immediately resign if he has agreed that he has failed to control the menace of illegal construction. The TMC leaders and the local police are hand in gloves with the real estate syndicate,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

 

Hakim on Monday admitted that the structure that collapsed was unauthorised, but passed the buck on to the previous regime of the state.

 

“It (constructing unauthorised buildings) has been a trend here and also in some other areas since the Left Front era,” Hakim said.

 

Responding to the allegation, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and former Kolkata mayor Bikash Bhattacharya wondered what the TMC was doing during its 12-year rule even if such an accusation was considered true for the sake of argument.