JNAC officials seal shops at the basement of Krishna Complex in Kadma on Monday. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, April 25: After Sakchi and parts of Bistupur, the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) today turned its basement sealing drive towards Kadma and yet another building in Bistupur.

JNAC officials, cracking down on encroachments at Uliyan in Kadma police station area today, sealed the basements of Krishna Apartment and Upahar Apartment, portions of which had been let out for commercial purposes as opposed to the original building plans.

Assistant engineer-cum-magistrate of JNAC Manoj Kumar Sahu told The Telegraph that violations in the construction of buildings had been detected during a survey conducted by the civic body about a fortnight ago.

“We had served notices to the officials concerned soon after the violations were detected. We had given the apartment management adequate time to re-convert the basement into a parking lot according to original building plans. However, they failed to pay heed, following which we were forced to take necessary action,” Sahu said.

Sahu added that the tenure of notices served to the owners of both buildings had been a fortnight each.

“We pressed our men and machinery to dismantle the shops. We will realise the costs incurred from the building owners at a later period,” the assistant engineer said.

A tight security cover was thrown on both the buildings where the demolition drive was carried out, with women police officers also deputed on the spot.

JNAC’s demolition teams, before reaching Kadma today, also sealed the basement of Bistupur-based Millennium Tower.

The drive, which was carried out at Bistupur’s Sura Bhavan Area, was supervised by the civic body’s assistant engineer-cum-magistrate G.K. Bhagat.

“We sealed seven shops in the basement of Millennium Tower, that was supposed to be used as a parking lot. The owners of the building can now either remove these shops on their own accord by applying to us through an affidavit or we will have no option but to pull them down in the next 15 days,” Bhagat said.

He added that the sealing drive would continue in the coming days.