Barely 500 metres from the chief minister’s house, a residential building has defied a demolition drive to grow vertically, in violation of civic norms.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) had demolished two illegal floors of 5F Palm Avenue in April 2007. But within seven months, the floors reappeared and tenants moved in.

“The civic body had sanctioned the ground floor and first floor of the house. The owner added two more floors to it,” said a local resident.

The construction of the illegal floors had started in November 2006. On January 31 last year, Metro had reported the violation of building norms in the VVIP neighbourhood. Amir Khan, the promoter of the building, was arrested. Landlord Manik Majumdar was given a month to pull down the illegal portion of the house.

The CMC, too, had issued an order to demolish the illegal floors of the building on February 4, 2007. The order was carried out in April.

“The owners covered the house with polythene sheets and reconstructed the illegal portions at night. They even joined the two floors with the adjoining building at 5G Palm Avenue, which is also illegal. The unauthorised floors have four tenants,” added the local resident.

The residents of the area had alerted Karaya police station and the CMC about the unauthorised construction, but the authorities ignored the complaints. “The landlord bribed the civic officials as well as the local police,” alleged a central government employee, who lives on Palm Avenue.

Putul, the wife of the landlord, admitted that the CMC rules had been flouted. “There are so many illegal buildings and violation of rules is the norm in the area,” she said.

“No one follows the building rules… If others follow the rules, we too will,” said Alamgir Ahmed, one of the tenants. According to neighbours, the tenants had paid about Rs 10 lakh as salaami (one-time payment) before moving in

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said on Friday: “How can this happen? I will find out tomorrow and order the two floors to be demolished again.”

It is the responsibility of the police stations to look out for illegal constructions and inform the civic officials about them, added the mayor.

The officer-in-charge of Karaya police station refused to speak about the illegal construction at 5F Palm Avenue.

“The CMC and the police need to work in tandem to stop illegal constructions. But most of the time, they are hand-in-glove with those carrying out illegal constructions,” said a senior IPS officer.

After the Metro report last January, the mayor had promised to increase surveillance and initiate action against promoters, landlords and civic officials involved.

Almost half of the 600,000 buildings in the city are illegal, according to civic records. “It is difficult to root out illegal construction because it is so widespread,” admitted the mayor on Friday.