Kolkata building collapse: Landlord held as toll rises to 10; Adhir blames mayor

Two days after an under-construction building collapsed in Kolkata’s Garden Reach, rescue workers on Tuesday evening recovered another body from underneath the rubble, taking the toll to 10.

Two more persons are still missing, a senior police officer told news agency PTI.

On Tuesday night, police arrested the owner of the land on which the illegal five-storey building was being built, an officer said.

“We have arrested the landowner on which the structure was built. We will produce him in court tomorrow,” he added.

The builder was arrested on Monday. A city court remanded him in 14-day police custody.

“One person was found under the debris around 8 pm. We rushed him to SSKM Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. He was a mason from Murshidabad district who was working on the project,” the police officer told PTI.

Adhir seeks Firhad Hakim’s resignation

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday held Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim responsible for the building collapse and said he should have resigned on moral grounds.

The building is in the constituency of Hakim, who is also the Urban Development Minister of the state.

Hitting out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for not sacking Hakim for this, Chowdhury said police should have arrested him.

“Firhad Hakim has committed a crime. Why will no action be taken against him? If he had any morality, he should have resigned,” Chowdhury, the state Congress president, said.

It is also alleged that the building that collapsed was being erected after filling a pond illegally.

“He (Firhad) is solely responsible for the deaths of those people. Rules were flouted, leading to the collapse of the under-construction building. If Mamata Banerjee had any morality, she should have removed him from the mayor’s chair,” Chowdhury said.

He also alleged that such builders have become a source of income for the ruling TMC. “The TMC is playing with the future of the innumerable citizens of Kolkata,” he said.

Conditions of injured serious

Personnel of the state disaster management department, NDRF, fire department, and Kolkata Police’s disaster management unit resumed rescue operations early Tuesday morning.

“There was piled up rubble and it was tough to continue the rescue operation there. We brought small tools to cut through concrete slabs. Large equipment could not be brought as the area is congested and full of narrow lanes,” the officer explained.

The under-construction building in the city’s western fringes collapsed early on Monday, claiming at least 10 lives and injuring 17 more. The deceased included two women who lived nearby.

The conditions of a few of the injured are stated to be serious.

(With agency inputs)