Demolition after Gurung prod - Two illegally made floors of shopping complex pulled down

Workers demolish the illegal portion of a building in
Darjeeling on Tuesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, July 28: The Darjeeling municipality today started demolishing the top two floors of a six-storied building a day after Bimal Gurung asked the civic body to pull down illegal structures "without fear".

Suk Bahadur Biswakarma, the vice-chairman of the Darjeeling municipality, today said: "Our leader has asked us to demolish illegal buildings without fear and we have started the drive. According to municipality rules, only buildings up to a height of 11.5 meters are allowed in Darjeeling. That means there can be just four storeys."

Civic body officials said they could not tell the height of the building as the top two floors were made illegally.

The concrete building on which the demolition hammer fell is a shopping complex situated on a stretch between NB Singh Road and HD Lama Road near Chowk Bazar.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief had asked the civic body to destroy illegal structures while addressing a Martyr's Day gathering yesterday.

"...I am leaving for Delhi soon and when I am not here, you better demolish the buildings. Be fearless in demolishing illegal buildings. If you fail to demolish them, I will do so once I return from Delhi. You all should not mind then," Gurung said.

The Morcha chief is scheduled to leave for Hardwar and Delhi on August 1.

Asked if the municipality was fearful of pulling down illegal structures, Biswakarma said: "No, we were not under pressure. But even though we were regularly sending notices to illegal structures, the owners would not pay heed and used to remain adamant."

He said the demolition of the two storeys of the illegal building would be completed in the next four-five days. "We will demolish two storeys of the building. Besides five workers from the municipality, we hired 10 others to demolish the two floors."

It is not clear how many buildings the municipality will target in the days to come.

"We had started conducting a survey on all illegal building on June 9. Once the survey is completed, we will be able to provide the exact number of illegal buildings. Till date, we have sent 61 notices but they do not include only illegal high-rises. People who have deviated from the building plan or occupied public spaces have also been sent notices," said Prashant Rai, the municipality engineer.