Kolkata: Expect a more sophisticated and spacious facility for obtaining various civic services under one roof without having to navigate through the corridors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters. After missing several construction deadlines, KMC is finally set to inaugurate the multi-storeyed building, which happened to be the Chaplin cinema hall — arguably Kolkata's oldest single-screen cinema hall. Christened Chaplin Bhawan, the new building opposite its SN Banerjee Road headquarters will accommodate different civic departments and a citizens' service centre. Mayor Firhad Hakim will inaugurate the facility on Friday.
The G+IV building has been constructed on a 12 cottah land where Chaplin formerly stood. The civic authorities acquired the hall from the state government in 2008 with the objective of establishing the citizens' service centre. KMC had started demolition of the cinema hall in 2013.
The civic officials ascertained that relocating departments to this new building would take pressure off from the headquarters, as divisions such as social sector, electrical, roads and information technology are scheduled to be transferred to the new establishment.
According to plans, the civic body intends to dedicate an entire floor to the citizens' service centre. This facility will be instrumental in eliminating obstacles encountered by citizens visiting the KMC headquarters. "We are planning to allocate a 6,000 square feet floor to citizens who regularly visit our headquarters for various essential services. Once different departments relocate to this newly constructed building, we may implement a single-window system for our citizens to access different services. A modern conference room has been constructed on the top floor," said a KMC official.
According to a KMC official, the civic brass aimed at decongesting the civic headquarters whilst relocating several departments from Hudco building, portions of which have developed structural issues. Electrical, roads and municipal tribunals are presently housed in the Hudco building.
Previously, the civic brass had resolved to decongest the civic headquarters by relocating advertisement and portions of assessment and social sector departments to the Roxy cinema building after acquiring it.