Fire! 250 houses unsafe

After SARS, rubble is the latest fear in the city.
There are around 650 unsafe buildings in Kolkata posing a serious threat to pedestrians and, more interestingly, 40 per cent of these buildings became unsafe after accidents which were caused by fire.
Starting from Firpo’s market, buildings in the Burrabazar area to the recent devastating fire at Satyanarayan Market, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has marked these, among 650 buildings, as structurally unsafe.Of these 250 buildings have been declared unsafe after fire gutted them.
“Our hands are tied. We are not fully empowered to pull down such buildings. We need a copy of the forensic report without which we cannot do anything,� said Swapan Samaddar, member, mayor-in-council, building.
In the past two years, KMC has been able to pull down just around 15-20 unsafe buildings. “There is a clause under KMC Act 411/IV that only allows us to demolish an unsafe building.
But if this is a case of an accident caused by fire, we need a copy of the forensic report and a nod from all affiliated departments,� said an engineer from KMC.
With no easy solution at hand, KMC is considering approaching the state government to provide them with the forensic report as well as to amend the inadequate laws so that they can bring down the unsafe structures soonest.
“We are planning to approach the state government to take necessary steps to empower us in such a way that we can take all necessary action,� added Samaddar.
Ashok Bhattacharya, urban development minister, was not available for his comment. But in his absence a senior officer from his department said, “We are contemplating on this issue. But it will take some time.�
“The hawkers are coming back on the pavements in front of Firpo’s and other dangerous buildings. We need all kind of co-operation from the state government and the police to take immediate action,� said mayor Subrata Mukherjee. subhra.sircar@timesgroup.com