www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, June 30: The civic body here has passed an order to demolish an illegal building.

The order comes in the wake of the municipality’s drive to clear the town of illegal constructions.

The last order for demolition of a building was passed in the mid-nineties, though there are many illegal buildings in Kalimpong.

The chairman of Kalimpong municipality, C.K. Kumai, while admitting the problem of illegal constructions, said: “In fact there are more unauthorised buildings then authorised ones. How many buildings can we demolish, as we would then have to tear down more than half the town.”

Claiming that most of the unauthorised buildings had come up a long time ago, Kumai said: “We are strictly scrutinising the new plans that are being passed. Special care should be taken as the Hills are landslide prone and fall within the seismic zone.”

About the demolition order, Kumai said: “One has to go through a lengthy process before the action is actually carried out. The main reason why we initiated action was because we had got a complaint against it.” He, however, refused to disclose the name of the building.

Residents here said whether the demolition of the building will actually take place is yet to be seen, as a similar order passed in the mid-nineties by the civic body was never carried out.

“That was because we had not received any help from police then,” said Kumai.