New homes built on ashes of old

kolkata: the old order - it always changes and perhaps not always for the better. the new township of rajarhat will probably solve the city's housing and space problem, but the hopes of the future is being built on the debris of several lives. property developers have snatched up the opportunity and old buildings and one-storey houses are being pulled down to give way to multi-storeyed structures.the worst affected are baguihati, narayantal (east), jagatpur, and teghoria and some areas of atghara. the trend started in early 1998 when a local promoter built a housing complex at shastribagan in baguiati. soon after, promoters made a beeline for rajarhat. one particular case generated much controversy. several buildings came up after demolishing seven houses. of these, five were declared illegal and the district authorities issued a demolition order two years back. the lure of profit was too strong to resist. some cpm members were also allegedly involved in land-grabbing. despite such cases, the present chairperson of rajarhat-gopalpur municipality, tapas chatterjee, failed to give the exact number of illegal buildings coming up. a municipality source claimed that a whopping i76 illegal buildings has come up in the area within a period of two years. no wonder the number of illegal constructions are on the rise. unscrupulous promoters have a field day with the authorities turning a blind eye. "constructing a building is very easy. go to the owner and frighten him with dire consequence. he will sell you his land. next, go to the municipality and find a listed land and building surveyor and you will get your required multi-storeyd," a local promoter says. at present, there are 120 surveyors registered with the municipality. a promoter in narayantala informed that they flout municipal rules and manage to get away by paying hush money to the local cpm fund. even a casual survey reveals that promoters usually target people belonging to the economically backward class. several buildings near uday sangha, a local club near hindu vidyapith schoolpara, in narayantala, have been built after threatening peasants to give up their land. the impact of land-grabbing on the sociology of the area can be extremely serious. the population in the rajarhat belt has gone up tremendously and with this ground water level has recorded an alarming depleting. unfortunately, civic amenities have not kept pace. although the present chairman refuses to accept this, former chairman amal guha said, "population is rising steeply in the area. it is for this reason that i could not take any action against illegal markets at arjunpur, chawlpatty, jagatpur road markets." a local informed that due to heavy use of ground water by the new residents, the ground water level has fallen to 270 to 300 feet. earlier, water could be found at 180 to 200 feet.