Construction work on buildings whose plans had been cleared during the tenure of the Trinamool Congress government within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area was stopped by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday.
The stop-work order will remain at least until July 31, by when a multi-department panel is expected to complete an “audit” of the sanctioned building and site plans.
Addressing reporters on the collapse of the under-construction shed at Garden Reach, the chief minister said at Nabanna: “I have directly instructed that work on all under-construction buildings, whose plans were sanctioned by the government before us, particularly commercial buildings and those being built on filled-up waterbodies, will remain suspended till July 31.”
He said a team comprising officials from multiple departments — the PWD, police, KMC, KMDA, civil defence, and fire and emergency services — would visit the “spots” and conduct the “audit” of the under-construction buildings.
Suvendu said: “The team will function under the guidance of the chief secretary, and the team will draw up a report. We will seek the cooperation of the Metro and Port authorities for this work. Those whose records are found to be proper can resume construction from August 1. Emergency services will be out of the purview of this work.”
Real estate developers welcomed the government’s decision to check under-construction buildings for deviations. But many asked why the audit could not continue while construction work was on.
“We are not against any audit or check. The Credai (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India) always advocates for compliance,” said Sushil Mohta, president of Credai, West Bengal, and chairman of the Merlin Group.
Many like Mohta were worried about missing deadlines because of the delay.
“We will extend our cooperation for any audit and check. But we expect that this exercise will remain time-bound because we have our commitments and are bound by the guidelines of RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016),” Mohta said.
A section of developers said that construction activities have yet to regain full momentum since the slowdown during the election season. Then there is monsoon, and the festival season right after.
“We will only request minimum interruption of work. The checks can continue while construction is going on. We are not against any kind of checking,” said another developer.
Suvendu said: “We have sought just a month’s time during monsoon. Emon ki aachey? (Is it a big deal)? Construction work in hospitals, in fire brigades and those by the army will be out of this.”
Such audits will subsequently be conducted in Howrah and Bidhannagar as well.
Without explicitly justifying why the government felt the audit of under-construction buildings was necessary, the chief minister referred to the collapse of an illegal building in Garden Reach in March 2024, which killed 13 people.
“Have you forgotten the building collapse at Garden Reach? Not one person could be saved. If things happen in exchange for money, the results are like this,” Suvendu said.
On March 17, 2024, an under-construction five-storey building collapsed in Garden Reach’s Azhar Molla Bagan, killing 13 people. A preliminary investigation revealed that the building was erected without a sanctioned plan from the KMC and lacked proper building permissions. Three KMC engineers, who were in charge of the Garden Reach area, were suspended in January 2025.
KMC administrator Smita Pandey issued an order on Wednesday evening, asking builders, developers, societies, and individuals within the KMC area “not to proceed with construction works till 31st July, 2026 or until further order, if any, whichever is earlier”.