Pasari House (top) and 4 Short Street. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta

The high court has upheld the civic guidelines to monitor the 2,000-plus ceremony houses in the city, thus making all but seven of them illegal. Metro visited four prominent ceremony houses to understand where they fell foul of the norms.

Pasari House

43 Ironside Road

What we saw: The house is next to a school, in an alley. The Birla temple is barely 200 metre away and there are several housing estates in the area. The parking space is small, so cars spill on to the road.

Localspeak: “Visitors’ cars often choke the road,” said businessman Harish Ladia.

Ownerspeak: “Shutting down marriage houses will not end traffic woes,” said the manager.

Cocola House

3 Arya Samity Road

What we saw: The two-storey house is in the middle of a congested residential area, close to two schools, a library and a temple. Naked wires peep through meter boxes. There are no fire-fighting arrangements. Parking space is scarce.

Localspeak: “It’s difficult to even walk because of the visitors’ cars,” said a homemaker.

Ownerspeak: “We don’t know the norms but pay our taxes,” said manager D.N. Baidya.

4 Short Street

What we saw: There’s no parking space. St Xavier’s is within 100 metres. There are naked wires in the kitchen and no fire fighting arrangements.

Localspeak: “The house causes massive traffic jams in the locality,” said executive Suresh Mukhopadhyay.

Ownerspeak: “If the CMC comes up with new rules every day, what can we do?” said Babulal Agarwal, a staff member.

Mukherjee Villa

4 Panchanantala Lane

What we saw: The house is opposite a preparatory school and near two temples in a crowded residential area. It has no parking facility and the cars are parked in the lane or on Diamond Harbour Road. Fire-fighting measures are absent.

Localspeak: “All forms of pollution go up when there is a programme in the house,” said the school principal, Trisha Banerjee.

Ownerspeak: The manager declined to comment.

Officialspeak: “We are not going to take immediate action against the illegal ceremony houses,” said deputy mayor Kalyan Mukherjee.