A payloader demolishes ‘illegal’ structures at Eden Flora near Peerless Hospital on Monday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Residents of a six-storeyed building off the Bypass lost their main entrance on Monday after the irrigation department demolished the gate that was built over a canal, blocking the flow of water underneath.

The 25-flat building — Eden Flora on Buderhat Road, near Peerless Hospital — was developed by the Eden Group that has built several residential and commercial projects in south Calcutta.

Officials of the irrigation department — in charge of maintaining canals in the state — found that portions of the building were illegal and blocking the canal.

Acting on the findings, engineers of the department and officers of East Jadavpur police station came to the spot on Monday afternoon with a large payloader and demolished the allegedly illegal structures, that included a concrete culvert leading to the 26ft-wide entrance and the iron gates at the entrance

The 11-odd families living in the building pleaded and later got into an argument with the engineers and cops leading the drive but without much success.

Some elderly residents were seen making frantic calls to Eden Group officials, who allegedly assured them that they would reach the spot within minutes but stayed away all through the drive, which continued for two hours.

“The developers may have illegally built some parts but how are we supposed to know about that and why should we suffer? Now the situation is such that we cannot take our cars out of the premises,” said Tapan Kumar Goswami, one of the residents.

Goswami, a retired SAIL official, had bought a 1000sq ft flat at Eden Flora in 2010 for Rs 25 lakh. He was among the first batch of owners to move in. All 25 flats in the high-rise have been sold.

Irrigation department officials said they had sent notices to the developers, asking them to demolish and re-construct the entrance following the norms. “We had served a notice to the developer two months ago informing them that they did not have any ‘No-Objection Certificate’ from our department to construct any structure above the canal. They did not bother to make any amends. We demolished it along with some other similar illegal structures in the area on Monday,” said irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee.

Metro tried to contact officials of the Eden Group, which had started developing the project in 2008. No one was available for comment.

Residents said one of the Eden representatives, Aditya Agarwal, had come to the spot with a group of engineers on Monday evening, long after the cops had left, and promised them that an entrance would be built at the rear.

“The engineers said they would break a portion of the wall and construct a new gate at the rear. It would take at least three to four days. What will happen till then? The place has become extremely risky,” said Jatan Chandra Roy, a resident of the project.

Officials said the lapses in the construction had come to notice after the state irrigation department and the Calcutta Environmental Improvement Project started expanding and concreting the sides of Suti canal.

Civic records suggest that the building plan of Eden Flora was sanctioned on condition that the culvert over the canal would not block the flow of water. “The developers, however, violated the condition and choked the canal. They are also guilty of encroachment,” said a civic official.

According to the residents, engineers of the irrigation department and officers of East Jadavpur police station had held a meeting with the developers on the Eden Flora premises about the violation.

“At that time, the developers had assured us that they would get the necessary permission. But, as was evident on Monday, they did not keep the promise,” said Roy.

After the demolition, the residents have been left with a broken and uneven sheet of cement above the canal, over which no car can ply. The residents, however, can walk in through a common passage shared by an adjacent high-rise built by the same developer.