The Statesman 11.06.2013
KMC occupies 2 acres to construct flats
In order to occupy the land the private company had put up a boundary wall around the land and the KMC was unaware of this, a senior civic official said.
The civic body demolished the boundary wall. Member, mayor-in-council Mr Swapan Samadder along with senior officials went to the spot this morning to supervise the operation.
The KMC will begin constructing flats on the land under the Basic Services for Urban Poor project. In 2009, the civic body had received the land from Kolkata Improvement Trust.
The KMC failed to find a contractor to construct the flats even after floating tender several times in the past four years. The project was initiated by the civic body in 2008 and the cost has escalated by 60 per cent owing to delay.
The civic body has selected a bidder who will construct the flats, said Mr Samadder. Twenty five, five-storied buildings will come up on the plot. The construction of the flats will start next week and is likely to be completed within a year. The civic body has taken four years to start construction of the flats on Canal South Road due to its faulty planning, lack of foresight and lackadaisical attitude, a civic official said. This Rs 41-crore project was taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme.
