The demolition of a clock tower in Garia, inaugurated by then minister Aroop Biswas three years ago, started on Thursday.
A court order in 2025 had declared the 56ft structure illegal. But it could not be pulled down because of alleged resistance by Trinamool Congress supporters.
The order was executed a day after the new BJP government announced zero tolerance towards unauthorised constructions and started demolishing two buildings in Tiljala, where two labourers were killed and three were injured in a blaze.
Sources said a list of unauthorised buildings and structures had been drawn up and all of them would be demolished
On Thursday, a crane was mobilised at the Mitali Sangha ground where the clock tower stood. The work started on Thursday but may take several days to complete, a KMC official said.
Police cordoned off the spot to prevent a flare-up in the neighbourhood.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials came armed with the court order from last year. They said a team had come in 2025, too, but the court order could not be executed because of alleged Trinamool interference.
In 2024, a writ petition was filed in Calcutta High Court against the clock tower.
The court had asked the KMC to assess and file a report. The civic body had thereafter declared that the construction was done without any sanctioned plan from the office of the director-general, buildings, of the KMC.
The court order said: “Learned Counsel for the respondent (state, in this case), though, submits that there exists an inter se dispute among the members of the Garia Mitali Sangha and due to such inter se dispute, the present writ petition has been filed seeking demolition of the said clock tower…. Be that as it may, since the report
filed by the corporation clearly indicates that the clock tower has been constructed without any sanctioned plan from the Building Department, Borough XI, it is expected that the Corporation shall proceed in accordance with law to take appropriate measures for demolition of the alleged unauthorised tower.”
Several members of Mitali Sangha said on Thursday that before the clock tower was built, they had been assured that the structure would not encroach on the club’s property and would follow all legal procedures.
One of them added: “No one could force anything as the (then) ruling party and a minister were involved.”