Seventy-hours after the West Bengal government sent bulldozers to flatten encroachers’ shops which had taken over pavements across the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday that for one month, the eviction of hawkers will be halted, saying, “I have no right to make anyone unemployed.”
On Monday, Mamata Banerjee had lambasted her ministers, MLAs, councillors and the police for taking money from hawkers in return for letting them set up shops on roads and pavements across the state, and more particularly in Kolkata. She had highlighted how government land was being encroached upon and even sold off by unscrupulous party leaders.
Accusing her own party leaders and police of allowing illegal construction and parking, she stated that her Government “will not take the bad name for the actions of some individuals and municipalities.” In a bid to stop illegal constructions, Banerjee had advised harsh punishment. “Ekta kak ke mere rastai jhuliye dao. Aar kono kak aar asbe na. (Kill a crow and hang it on the street. No crow will come again),” she said. The CM had also formed a committee to review the situation of illegal construction and land grabbing.
Since Monday, thousands of hawkers have been evicted. Many hawkers started saying that they have been sitting on the roads for more than 20 or 30 years, demandingly asking what they would eat if they were evicted. Almost 400 of Kolkata’s congested footpaths have been cleared of encroachments in the past three days. A State-wide eviction drive by police saw the removal of “illegal” sheds, stalls, and merchandise that had dominated the walkways. On Thursday, Mamata Banerjee convened a meeting on hawker and illegal encroachment evictions with administrations and all officers of Kolkata Police, where she heard hawkers’ concerns.
She said, “We have to first identify where we can make hawker zones,” adding that Mayor of Kolkata Firhad Hakim along with MLAs Atin Ghosh, Debabrata Majumdar and Debashish Kumar would “identify areas for hawker zones” within the next month, to be “divided among the hawkers.” “If necessary, take three months’ time (to make the zones) and then make it systematic,” she said.
Banerjee also said that no hawker would sit with more than one establishment and no one can stack materials on footpaths. She remained stern on illegal parking on footpaths, saying, “The police and councillors who allow illegal parking and hawkers will be arrested irrespective of their party colour.”
On Wednesday, bulldozers were used in areas like Gariahat, shopping hub Hatibagan, IT hub Salt Lake, Pragati Maidan, Anandapur, Central Avenue and others — hawkers were evicted in at least eight places under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction. As per sources, around 200 temporary stalls were removed in Hatibagan and Bagbazar alone.
While many residents welcomed the return of “usable” pavements, there were also concerns about the livelihood of the displaced hawkers. According to various estimates, Kolkata alone has 2.75 lakh hawkers.
Mamata Banerjee told her police and bureaucracy to act impartially and take action against wrongdoers, regardless of political affiliation. “If I do any illegal act, you should take action against me too,” she said.
She also told bureaucrats and police to arrest any wrongdoer ignoring political affiliation. “If any councillor takes money to settle hawkers, and then sends in bulldozers to remove them, I am not in favour of that,” she said. “Such councillors will be arrested. If the police do so, then they will be arrested as well,” she added.
Within minutes of Mamata Banerjee’s admonition, police swung into action and bulldozers pulled down a BJP party office in Kolkata. Officials also reached an RSS office in Asansol after the Chief Minister said that she had received complaints that a three-storey building had been built after filling up a waterbody.
After Mamata Banerjee’s stern message, Trinamool Congress leader Debashish Pramanik was arrested on charges of land grabbing in Siliguri. Trinamool Congress block president of Dabgram Phulbari, Pramanik is known to be “close” to Siliguri Mayor Gautam Deb, say sources.
He was arrested by the Special Operation Group of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate. According to police sources, one Bimal Roy filed a written complaint against Debashish Pramanik on Wednesday in the land encroachment related incident. The Trinamool leader was arrested on the basis of his complaint.
