Polluted dust particles in Kolkata's air continue to increase. Nothing seems to be able to rein it in. According to municipal officials, the major reason for this is the ongoing construction of housing projects one after another across the city and suburbs. In most places, multi-storey construction work continues without any regard for environmental pollution control regulations.
Intending to stop this trend, Mayor Firhad Hakim has announced, "If pollution prevention conditions at construction sites are not met, the municipality will halt construction work from now on."
Following the mayor's announcement, some businessmen associated with the construction industry in the city say there are many places in the city where it is not possible to work while meeting all conditions. Their question is, will the municipality then stop construction work in all those places?
However, officials from the municipality's building department could not provide a satisfactory answer to this.
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The municipality has set conditions for following a cluster of rules, such as enclosing construction sites, maintaining water spraying arrangements to prevent dust from flying, arranging to take construction waste outside the city, obtaining construction permits after getting plans approved, and not leaving construction materials on roads. The mayor has also said that police and the municipality will jointly monitor whether these rules are being followed at construction sites. He has made it clear, "No laxity in following rules will be tolerated in the interest of the environment. The municipality will be compelled to take strict action."
Building department officials say that if rules are broken, the concerned construction businessman may also have to pay large compensation.
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Hearing this, several construction businessmen and developers in Kolkata say they are already in dire straits, paying various compensations. The profits from their business have been eaten away by regulatory complications since the COVID-19 pandemic. They claim that many construction businessmen have been forced to leave their work and open food shops or grocery stores. A developer from Tollygunge in the southern suburbs has been unable to start work for about two years despite signing contracts for residential construction on at least three plots. In his words, "If we follow all the rules the municipality has bound us with, even after investing our own money, the profit will be minimal. That's why I'm not working."
An official from the municipality's building department says, "We have instructions that legal action should be taken immediately if any laxity is seen in the conditions set for preventing environmental pollution."
