Developers of under-construction buildings that require safety audits under a recent state government order will have to apply to their respective civic bodies for the inspections, scheduled to begin on Tuesday.
The audit teams will examine buildings whose plans were approved in the last three years, according to a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued on Monday.
Teams constituted by civic bodies will inspect buildings after receiving applications. They will submit reports to a technical sub-committee comprising senior engineers
from state and central agencies. The panel will recommend either resumption of work or further checks to a high-level committee of bureaucrats, which alone has the authority to allow construction to resume.
“We have prepared an SOP. We have also published an application form that will be uploaded to our website. Developers should fill the forms and submit them at their borough offices or the administrator’s office,” said Smita Pandey, administrator and commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Applications can also be emailed to taratalacommittee@gmail.com, a common address for all municipal areas where the temporary construction freeze is in force. “Applications relating to under-construction buildings from any of these municipal areas can be sent to this email. They will be forwarded to the respective civic body,” an official said.
The government has suspended construction of all commercial buildings and residential buildings that are G+5 (six storeys) or higher till July 31, by when the safety audits are to be completed.
The ban covers Calcutta, New Town, Bidhannagar, Rajarhat, Sonarpur-Rajpur, Pujali, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, Baranagar, South Dum Dum, Kamarhati, parts of Bally, parts of the Howrah Municipal Corporation area and Bishnupur rural area near Joka.
The KMC has formed 16 audit teams, one for each borough, comprising civic engineers, representatives of agencies such as KMDA or the PWD, fire service officials, police, labour department, CESC and the state electricity distribution company.
Priority will be given to under-construction hospitals, nursing homes, schools, colleges, IT buildings and other projects expected to attract large gatherings.
According to the SOP, audit teams will inform developers 24 hours before visiting a site. They will assess construction quality, material, workmanship, fire safety and labour safety measures. Worker welfare will also be assessed, including maintenance of workers’ registers.
Deficiencies will be communicated to the developers for corrective action.
Garden Reach
Kolkata Police, probing the collapse of the under-construction warehouse in Garden Reach, sought information from the Kolkata Port Trust on whether a soil test was carried out before starting the construction on the 6,000-odd sqm area, sources said. The crash killed 16 workers and left 17 others injured.
“Based on statements we have compiled, there were around 30 or more persons at the site during the collapse, but due to the absence of a register, we are unable to say for sure,” an investigator said.
Police have examined six officials of the license building surveyor section of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation till Monday. Kalicharan Banerjee, former OSD to ex-mayor Firhad Hakim, reportedly said he was unaware of the project, sources said.