Mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday told the chief engineer of the building department of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) that he would be show-caused if a probe revealed that an illegal building was being built after filling a water body.

Hakim’s outburst followed several calls at the weekly phone-in programme — Talk to Mayor — where the callers complained about illegal constructions in the city.

Earlier, while discussing another complaint from Ward 25 (Girish Park-Jorasanko area) Hakim told the chief engineer that he should suspend the sub-assistant engineer of the ward if he had failed to report an illegal construction.

“I will suspend you (the chief engineer) if you do not suspend the sub-assistant engineer,” Hakim said.

A sub-assistant engineer supervises the building department’s work in one or two wards. He reports to the executive engineer, who in turn reports to the chief engineer.

A little later, another caller from Ward 67 (covering parts of Kasba and Tiljala) told the mayor that an illegal building was coming up on a water body.

“Check the records and let me know by Monday. If illegal construction is taking place, it is my discredit too. I will tell the press on Monday what our probe has found,” he said.

He then told the chief engineer: “I will tell the commissioner to show-cause you if it is found that the building is illegal,” he said.

Moments earlier while discussing the complaint from Ward 67, the mayor had asked the executive engineer of the borough from where the complaint came to suspend the sub-assistant engineer if he had not reported about this illegal construction.

“Suspend the sub-assistant engineer tomorrow morning if it is found that he did not report this illegal construction. This is my order. If you do not follow it, I will show-cause all of you,” Hakim told the executive engineer who was attending the programme through video conference.

The KMC has created an online system where all sub-assistant engineers are supposed to report illegal constructions.

This mechanism was created after an illegal under-construction building collapsed in Garden Reach in March last year, leading to the death of 13 people.