The Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Tuesday heard residents and flat buyers from properties linked to Trinamool leader and real estate developer Raju Naskar, who were served demolition notices by the civic body.
Sources in the KMC said nearly 40 families from eight to nine buildings appeared for the hearings. All the properties were either developed by or linked to Naskar.
A woman who attended the hearing said she submitted a copy of an agreement signed between her father and Naskar, but could not produce an approved building plan from the KMC.
“We had a plot in Beleghata measuring about 2 cottahs. My father, who owns the land, entered into an agreement with Naskar. He promised flats on the ground and first floors,
but never showed us any approved building plan. It was not possible to force him to provide it if he did not do so voluntarily. He was a powerful man,” she said.
KMC sources said many attendees told officials they had invested large sums of money and feared losing everything if the buildings were demolished.
Kolkata Police have registered two cases against Naskar for alleged illegal construction in the eastern suburbs of the city.
Police sources said that, based on complaints lodged by the KMC, Naskar has been accused of constructing an unauthorised five-storey building on East Kulia Road in Ward 34.
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had earlier mentioned Naskar’s name in connection with illegal constructions in Beleghata and said he was under the scanner of law-enforcement agencies.