Bidhannagar police have identified around 25 rooftop cafes, bars, lounges and restaurants and served them notices to stop operations immediately, sources in the commissionerate said on Sunday.

These rooftop spots are located in Salt Lake and New Town and come under the jurisdiction of Bidhannagar police.

“We have identified these rooftop places which were operational in our jurisdiction. We have also informed the fire department and the local civic bodies. Now it would be upon them to decide and initiate the next course of action,” said a senior officer
of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate.

Krishna Chakraborty, the mayor of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said the civic body was also preparing a list of rooftop establishments.

“Police have prepared a list. We have also asked all councillors to submit names of rooftop establishments in their wards, but the councillors will not visit these places. We will forward the list to the police,” she said.

“The police will first visit these places, then officials and engineers from the corporation will serve notices if something illegal is found. Most of the rooftop establishments have been running without permissions because the corporation cannot permit construction on the roof,” said the mayor.

Chakraborty, however, allayed fears that the civic body was on a witch-hunt. “We are not against business. We will not take any step that hurts businesses, but at the same time, we have to ensure that no lives are lost if there is a fire,” she said.

An official of NKDA said officials of the building department of NKDA visited seven rooftop restaurants in New Town on Sunday. “A report will be prepared and necessary action or remedial measures will be taken based on the findings,” said the official.

The move came after Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday announced that all rooftop cafes, bars, lounges and restaurants will be shut down, citing that the rooftop of a building is to be considered as a common area that should be free of encroachment as a fire safety measure. The drive was implemented following a fire in the Rituraj Hotel, which claimed 14 lives last week.

Following the stand, the civic body in Calcutta had started to dismantle portions of rooftop bars and restaurants, citing it as unsustainable for fire safety.

Bidhannagar police sources said they had started to draw up the list of their rooftop bars, lounges and restaurants in their jurisdiction after chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared the rooftop restaurants illegal during a visit to Celica Park in Park Street on May 1 where an allegedly unauthorised gas station was found and a rooftop bar cum lounge was found to be operational.