KMC seeks ‘elevation copy’ of building linked to Abhishek Banerjee’s company

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has sought the “elevation copy” of the building registered in the name of a company linked to the Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, which will have to be attached to the reply to notice served earlier by the KMC to that property at Harish Mukherjee Road in South Kolkata.

Although the same building at 188A Harish Mukherjee Road in South Kolkata, which is close to the residence of the previous West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee, is registered in the name of a corporate entity, Leaps & Bounds Private Limited, it was used as Abhishek Banerjee’s residence. The name of the building is “Santiniketan”.

The KMC authorities have clarified that a plain reply to the notice will not be enough, and the “elevation copy” of the same building should be attached to the reply to justify the claims. The authorities have also said that the alterations and additions in the original structure of said building should also be graphically mentioned in that ”elevation copy”.

An “elevation copy” typically refers to the architectural elevation drawings used in building construction. These are 2D, scaled orthographic projections that illustrate the vertical faces of a structure, showing features like walls, roofs, doors, windows, and exterior materials from a specific directional view

The KMC had sent notices to 17 properties either owned or co-owned by Abhishek Banerjee. Like ‘Santiniketan’, elevation copies will have to be provided along with replies to KMC notices to other properties as well, sources informed.

It is learnt that while getting the construction design approval, a drawing or sketch of the construction site and what is being done has to be submitted along with the application, which is mandatory under the KMC Building Rules, 2009.

One copy of the documents is kept by the building department, and the other is retained by the applicant. This design is sketched on a special type of blue paper. This copy is one of the most important tools for the KMC to get information about any illegal constructions in any place under the corporation’s jurisdiction.

Since the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime came to power in West Bengal in 2011, the opposition parties, first CPI(M) and then Congress and finally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had been vocal about a large number of properties being registered in the names of different Banerjee-family members.

However, at that time, Mamata Banerjee had rubbished such allegations as a mud-slinging exercise by the opposition.