Kolkata1 hour agoAuthor: Tirthankar Das
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has completed structural audits of 160 buildings across the city as part of its ongoing construction compliance drive, with only 11 projects receiving approval from the Technical Sub-Committee so far.
KMC audits 160 construction projects citywide
Speaking on the audit process, KMC Administrator Smita Pandey said that building permissions had been granted to 344 premises across the city’s 144 wards over the past three years. The civic body had asked developers to submit audit-related forms, following which 200 applications were received. However, nearly 40 applications were found to be incomplete.
Only 11 projects receive final clearance
According to Pandey, audit teams have so far inspected 160 premises, and 41 cases have been referred to the Technical Sub-Committee for detailed scrutiny. Of these, only 11 projects have been cleared for construction.
Labour registration issues delay construction approvals
She said that labour registration-related issues were the primary reason behind delays in obtaining approvals. The KMC plans to hold another meeting with developers and construction agencies to address the pending issues and streamline the approval process.
Ward delimitation exercise underway
Meanwhile, the KMC has also begun the process of redrawing ward boundaries following directions from the state’s Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department after the Chief Minister’s announcement on civic delimitation.
The exercise is being carried out by the corporation’s survey and legal departments, which are assessing factors such as the number of polling booths, geographical area, roads, houses, civic infrastructure, and voter distribution in every ward.
Survey teams assess civic infrastructure carefully
Officials said they have been asked to prepare plans assuming the number of wards could increase from 144 to around 200. The state government is aiming to bring the number of voters in each ward to around 15,000–16,000, compared with the current disparities across the city.
At present, Kolkata has over 3.225 million voters, with significant variation between wards. While Ward 66 (Tiljala-Topsia) has more than 85,000 voters, Ward 70 (Bhowanipore) has only around 14,000. Similarly, Ward 58 (Dhapa-Mathpukur) is the city’s largest by area, whereas Ward 22 (Burrabazar) is among the smallest in both area and electorate.
Kolkata prepares for two hundred wards
Officials said the delimitation exercise will also take into account population density, civic infrastructure, and service delivery, ensuring that municipal services are not affected while balancing voter distribution.
If the number of wards is increased to 200, the civic body will also need to establish additional ward offices, urban health centres, and borough offices, besides reorganising borough boundaries to ensure efficient governance.
