Payloader razes ‘TMC party office’, owner gets back land

Kolkata: A Trinamool party office, which was allegedly painted saffron after the BJP's win in the Assembly election, was demolished with a payloader on Debendra Chandra Dey Street near Tangra on Saturday. The demolition came after the owner of the land reportedly told a BJP functionary that Trinamool had forcibly set up the office on the spot. Landowner Jharna Kundu recounted, "Earlier, we had a tile-shed house there. After permission from KMC, we started the construction of our four-storey house in 2011. But the local Trinamool men took over that portion of the land, claming they would set up a club, which subsequently turned out to be a party office." She added that after the BJP won the election on May 4, Trinamool members broke everything, painted the party office saffron and put up the photos of PM Narendra Modi. "There were drinking sessions, and loud DJ music until 2 am. On May 15, we wrote to BJP's state president Samik Bhattacharya and finally we got back our land," she said. State municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul trained her guns on Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, demanding answers for the "mushrooming" of unauthorised buildings and encroachments in the past 15 years. Paul said, "If anybody did build an illegal structure, why did the mayor not check it in 15 years?" She alleged administrative apathy, citing the blaze at an illegal godown. Paul said her govt would not evade responsibility. "We will be accountable if such things happen," she said. Minor deviations, she said, could be regularised through compliance: "If you do not have a fire or trade licence, please apply to issue it," she said. Constructions "without any permission by paying bribes to TMC leaders did not happen in a day", she claimed. " Hakim has to answer how these buildings came up," she said.