In city’s leather goods zone, illegal workshops cohabit with homes

Kolkata: Residents of Tiljala watched in stunned silence on Wednesday evening as two payloaders rolled into a narrow lane and began tearing down portions of the building where two labourers died in a fire on Tuesday.The loud crash of breaking concrete echoed through the congested locality as residents stood observing the demolition with a mix of fear, disbelief and uncertainty. Several people spoke in hushed tones while discussing how such constructions had mushroomed in the area over the years. For many, the demolition was not just about one building, but a reflection of a larger problem that residents claim has existed for years under the nose of the administration."People are shocked seeing a building being demolished like this. But how were these buildings allowed to come up in the first place? Politicians and officials have made money, but poor people are becoming homeless," said a local.The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has marked the Topsia-Tiljala stretch as a red zone for demolition alongside Garden Reach-Metiabruz, Rajabazar, Burrabazar and pockets off EM Bypass. According to a KMC buildings department official, no fewer than 1,000 structures in the Tiljala-Topsia belt are awaiting demolition. According to internal civic assessment, around 70% of the buildings constructed in the area over the past decade are illegal."There is rapid real estate pressure, weak monitoring and a hostile ground environment in this pocket. Borough-level buildings department staff are hesitant to inspect areas, fearing backlash. A colleague who once attempted to inspect an illegal construction in Tiljala was abused and threatened by rowdies allegedly linked to an influential developer with political connections," said a KMC official. This fear-driven retreat has serious consequences. When officials cannot inspect sites, issue stop-work notices or supervise demolition, illegal structures gain time to become permanent. Once occupied, connected to utilities and woven into the local economy, demolition becomes administratively harder and politically riskier. In effect, delayed enforcement rewards violators and weakens the credibility of municipal regulation.The Tiljala-Topsia belt also exposes a structural flaw in Kolkata's urban governance: laws exist, demolition lists exist, but implementation collapses where local resistance is organised and coercive. Similar difficulties in Burrabazar-Rabindra Sarani and other dense neighbourhoods show that this is not merely a planning problem but an enforcement deficit shaped by political patronage, local muscle power and inadequate protection for civic staff.In Tiljala, several locals alleged that many residential buildings were being used for commercial purposes. They claimed that small-scale production units and workshops often operate in such structures, increasing pressure on already congested neighbourhoods and posing serious safety concerns."Many buildings here are not purely residential any more," said another resident. "There are factories, storage spaces and production units inside them. If something goes wrong, it puts everyone living nearby at risk."Residents said many flat owners had invested their life savings to buy homes and will now face uncertainty over their future. Some locals questioned why ordinary buyers should bear the consequences alone if authorities failed to act during the construction phase itself. "The govt must find a solution for the families living there," said another local.