Razing notice: House owners attend hearing

Kolkata: Residents of Beleghata and Tiljala, who have received civic demolition notices for their homes of a decade, on Wednesday queued up at the KMC for a hearing before the special hearing officer. The Beleghata properties were promoted or owned by local strongman Raju Naskar.The notice directed Beleghata locals to meet KMC officials with their property deeds and stamp papers in 48 hours. After a day-long hearing, the residents were asked to wait for further communication. "We came to the hearing, hoping for a demolition exemption," said a resident. A KMC official said, "To do justice to actual beneficiaries, we need to see more papers. We may send demolition notices for illegal structures." tnn