Bengal Halts Commercial Projects After Warehouse Collapse
CM Suvendu Adhikari orders statewide safety audit as Kolkata tragedy claims five lives
GG News Bureau
Kolkata, 25th June: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has suspended work on all under-construction commercial projects approved during the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government until July 31 and ordered a comprehensive safety audit following the collapse of an under-construction warehouse in Kolkata that claimed five lives.
Announcing the decision after visiting the accident site, Adhikari said preliminary reports indicated that the building plan sanctioned for the collapsed warehouse was structurally flawed.
“I have directed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Commissioner and the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department to stop work on all under-construction commercial buildings approved by the previous government, including those sanctioned on reclaimed water bodies. All such projects will undergo a detailed audit,” the Chief Minister said.
The suspension will initially apply to projects within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area and later be extended to Howrah and Bidhannagar municipal regions. Hospitals, fire service infrastructure and other essential public service projects have been exempted from the order.
A multi-agency team comprising officials from the Public Works Department (PWD), Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Fire and Emergency Services, Civil Defence and Kolkata Police will conduct the audit under the supervision of the Chief Secretary.
The team will scrutinise approved building plans, inspect construction sites and verify compliance with structural and safety regulations before submitting its report. Projects on land leased by Kolkata Metro and the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority (SMPA) will also be examined.
The announcement followed the collapse of a three-storey warehouse under construction in Kolkata’s Taratala area, where at least five workers were killed and around 20 others rescued. Rescue operations involving the Army, NDRF, Kolkata Police, Fire Services and disaster management teams continued through the day as authorities searched for additional workers feared trapped beneath the debris.
Adhikari said preliminary findings from KMC engineers suggested defects in the approved building plan and ruled out heavy rainfall or weak soil as the likely cause of the collapse based on initial observations.
The Chief Minister said the government would announce compensation for the victims’ families and details of legal action after receiving the final technical report. Authorities are also verifying the identities of the deceased and injured workers, many of whom are believed to be labourers employed at the construction site.
