Demolition Waste Must be Mandatorily Handed to KMC

The demolition waste from any house must be mandatorily handed to the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) so a plant meant to process construction
and demolition waste can function optimally. Waste generated during
construction, too, has to be sent to the plant.

Only 15 tonne of waste was being fed into the plant daily, way below its
capacity to process 500 tonne of waste in a day. The plant is supposed to use construction and demolition waste — including concrete chunks, bricks and
cement — and build paver blocks out of them. The paver blocks are used to
pave footpaths and common areas of many apartment blocks.

A large proportion of the construction and demolition waste generated in the
city is being used to fill water bodies on the outskirts of Kolkata. In almost
every neighbourhood in the city, local contractors take away waste from a house
that is undergoing repairs or being pulled down.

The KMC Building Rules require the owner of any property to intimate the
civic body before its demolition. The owner will be charged a transportation fee
for picking up and transporting the waste.