Residents exchange blows over roof dispute, mayor orders vigil on bldg

KOLKATA: A dispute among residents of a flat located in south Kolkata’s Dhakuria over alleged illegal construction on the terrace took a dramatic turn on Friday evening with two parties coming to blows over it. Both parties have filed complaints at the Lake police station.
With mayor Firhad Hakim issuing a strong statement on the issue on Saturday, both sides hinted they “were ready for negotiations to quell the tension”.
According to one of the victims, a young Karate expert residing in one of the flats with her parents, they had complained about the illegal construction.
“A local leader who stays here tried to construct portions illegally. We opposed. However, when the construction did not stop, we lodged a complaint about a year ago in the Talk To Mayor programme. After we followed it up, Kolkata Municipal Corporation issued a notice on June 27 asking this leader to remove the illegal construction. This infuriated the leader. On July 21, after returning from the rally, he attacked me and my family. We dialled 100 and the local police asked us to lodge a complaint. We did so. While returning from the police station, they assaulted me, my mother and my sister by pinning us down on the road,” claimed the young woman victim.
The youth leader denied all charges and countered that his mother had been assaulted by the family.
“You can go to any neighbour and ask about multiple complaints against this family. There is no politics involved as we merely wanted to know why they misbehaved with my mother,” said the leader.
After the untoward incident, the mayor’s office instructed the buildings department to keep a vigil on the building and ordered officers to ensure that no illegal construction is allowed.
The KMC buildings department had razed parts of the apartment building including the portion of the terrace that were illegally constructed after the matter was reported to the mayor during the ‘Talk to Mayor’ session.
“After an inspection of the building, we decided to raze parts of the building,” said the buildings department official.
The building was reportedly under scanner after the developer fled from the project before its completion.
“We will investigate the case and ascertain if any cognizable offence can be made,” said an officer of Lake PS, adding they never asked for any settlement as claimed by the young woman before the media. “Talk to joint CP (crime) as I am not authorized to speak,” said DC (SED) Subhankar Bhattacharya.