After Roof Collapse Deaths, Bengal Halts All Construction Approved By Trinamool

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday suspended till July 31 work of all under-construction commercial projects approved by the previous TMC government, and ordered a comprehensive audit of such projects following the warehouse collapse in the city that left five people dead.

The chief minister made the announcements after visiting the accident site and said preliminary reports submitted to him indicated that the sanctioned building plan of the collapsed warehouse was flawed.

"I have directed the Kolakat Municipal Corporation (KMC) commissioner and the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department to stop work at all under-construction commercial buildings approved by the previous government, including projects where permission was granted after filling up water bodies. All these will undergo an audit," the CM said.

"Construction work at such sites will remain suspended till July 31," Adhikari said at a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna.

The audit exercise would subsequently be extended to the Howrah and Bidhannagar municipal areas, he added.

The chief minister said the audit would be conducted by a multi-agency team comprising officials from the Public Works Department (PWD), Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Services, Kolkata Police and KMC.

"The team will function under the guidance of the chief secretary. It will examine site plans, building plans and conduct spot inspections before submitting its report," he said.

Adhikari said the audit would also cover projects built on land leased from Kolkata Metro and the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority (SMPA).

"The objective is to ascertain whether all prescribed norms and safety regulations have been followed. Every project falling under the scope of the audit will be examined," he said, adding that a special committee constituted by the state government under the supervision of the chief secretary will oversee the exercise.

However, construction work related to essential services such as hospitals and fire brigade infrastructure would not be affected by the suspension order.

"Projects linked to hospitals and emergency services will continue as they are essential in nature," the chief minister said.

The announcement came hours after the collapse of an under-construction warehouse that left five people dead and several others injured. A major rescue operation involving police, fire services, civil defence and Army personnel was conducted.

According to the chief minister, preliminary inputs received from KMC engineers suggested that there were defects in the building plan approved for the warehouse.

"Initially, I was told by the KMC that the building plan was given a sanction on January 17 this year. The owner of the land is SMPA and the lease was given to Sambhunath Behera as a partner of Behera Brothers. I have received an initial report that the plan was faulty. Technical experts are examining all aspects and a detailed report will be submitted shortly," he said.

The chief minister said that, based on his preliminary assessment, neither heavy rainfall nor soil conditions appeared to have caused the collapse.

"I am not an engineer, but what I saw at the site suggests that the structure did not collapse because of yesterday's rain or soft soil. Had that been the reason, the structure would have bent before collapsing," he said.

Adhikari said further details regarding legal action and compensation for the victims of the collapse would be announced in the Assembly on Thursday.

"Initially, KMC engineers told us that the building plan is faulty. Technical people are working on it and I will get a report soon. Tomorrow, I will give details in the Assembly," Adhikari said.

The chief minister said authorities were verifying whether the victims were residents of West Bengal or had come from other states for work.

Adhikari said several rescued workers did not require medical treatment as they had escaped without injuries.

"Four of the rescued workers sustained serious injuries. Around 10 to 12 people are undergoing treatment at SSKM Hospital. All of them are labourers," he said.

The CM alleged that several such warehouses had been approved during the previous regime through corrupt practices.

"Everyone knows how such godowns were sanctioned in exchange for money. We will have to rectify things gradually," he said.

The CM defended the decision to deploy Army personnel and other specialised agencies for the rescue operation.

"When you do not have the required machines to cut through concrete and steel structures or the necessary cranes, you have to seek assistance. We called in the Army, NDRF and other specialised agencies to speed up the rescue effort," he said, adding that the role of the state secretariat was limited to monitoring and coordinating the rescue operation through the control room set up at Nabanna.

The rescue operations continued late into the evening.

Drawing a comparison with last year's Garden Reach building collapse that left 13 people dead, Adhikari claimed that rescue efforts in that incident had been slower and less effective.

Meanwhile, local MLA and former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim was reportedly stopped by the police from visiting the collapse site fearing backlash from locals, after which he went to the SSKM Hospital and enquired about the treatment of the injured people.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)