Dwaipayan.Ghosh & Saikat RayKolkata: Barely three days after Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s former Mayor Firhad Hakim’s then Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Kalicharan Banerjee was arrested in connection with the Taratala warehouse collapse incident where 16 persons have lost their lives so far, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) – that is probing the incident – raided his residence at Howrah.The police team on Sunday took Banerjee with them to his Howrah residence where he was questioned inside his flat about the possible spots where he could have hidden crucial documents. The SIT members spent over four hours at Banerjee’s Howrah residence. The police team also recorded the statement of his family members. Going through his documents, a list of names have been finalized whom the SIT now plans to ask to join the investigations.Both the SIT and the KMC have focused their independent probes on the G+2 residential underconstruction warehouse claiming there is evidence that foundational safety protocols and structural inspections were completely bypassed to finish the project in record time. “Given the permissions came in January, how quickly could a G=2 structure come up?” questioned a KMC engineer.Initial investigations also reveal that the mandatory soil testing process was compromised before construction began. This critical omission left the structural integrity of the foundation unverified against local ground conditions.Furthermore, administrative oversight was entirely absent throughout the project. No structural engineers inspected the site to verify load-bearing safety, and departmental engineers from the local civic body failed to conduct any periodic site visits during the active construction phase.Compounding these structural lapses, workers have told SIT officials on-site that thew builders reportedly utilized inferior quality construction materials to accelerate the building process and reduce expenditures.Legal experts and structural specialists warn that the combination of unverified soil stability, substandard materials, and a total lack of technical supervision poses an immediate risk to the safety of the structure.“We believe that this nexus was going on for a relatively long time. For this, the team led by Banerjee was in touch with a few developers and architecture firms. On Saturday, we focused on knowing from Banerjee the names of all those who are part of his coterie. We also want to ascertain the names of all recipients of the Rs 20 lakh collected from the developers at Taratala,” stated an investigating officer.Sources said that Banerjee was questioned in multiple rounds even on Sunday even at Lalbazar – either individually or in the presence of the other accused – in this regard.According to the SIT, Banerjee had been deeply involved from the very beginning, when the building plan for Taratala was being prepared.The arrested Abdul Hamid, who works as a land and property broker in that area, had contacted him during the planning stage. Kalicharan’s team allegedly assured him that getting approval would be easy and that there would be no scrutiny, claimed sources.Meanwhile, KMC has stated that all 16 audit teams – one from each bureau – will hit the roads from Monday. The zone-wise inspection teams will launch audit drives across all 144 wards. Inspectors will evaluate private, commercial, and large residential under-construction projects to verify building plan approvals and ensure structural compliance with sanctioned designs, strictly emphasizing an error-free process free from political influence.CM Suvendu Adhikari had earlier announced that the audit team will be looking into areas of rejecting project plans in case of gross violations and give advice for rectification will be provided to give protection to the design.
