KOLKATA: At least 10 people were killed and 17 injured when a five-storey building, being constructed illegally in a congested area in Garden Reach, collapsed on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
Till late on Monday, a search was on for three people who are still missing under mounds of rubble.
The dead and the injured were mostly residents of an adjoining slum; at least two of them were labourers working on construction of the building.
Building promoter Md Wasim alias Wasi was held and charged with multiple sections, including murder and attempt to murder.
Under fire over its laxity, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) show-caused three civic engineers from the local borough and identified six other illegal buildings in the vicinity. One of them, which was tilting dangerously, will be razed immediately.
KMC building department said the building was constructed on a plot that was earlier a water body. Also, the building lacked proper foundation, was built with inferior material and had no sanction from MC.
The collapse happened around midnight, by which time most eventual victims were at home. The debris flattened five shanties in a slum next to the building.
CM Mamata Banerjee, Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, fire and emergency services minister Sujit Bose visited the spot. “Mayor said the construction was illegal. I express sorrow over the matter and urge the administration to take necessary action against people responsible,” Mamata said.
Shortly after her assurance, the promoter was arrested on basis of a suo motu complaint by Kolkata Police.
The mayor has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for families of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for the injured.
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