Bulldozer evictions in Kolkata continue for a second day

West Bengal authorities conduct eviction drives on unauthorised street hawkers, sparking criticism and protests from opposition leaders.

Following West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s scathing criticism of the situation surrounding encroachment of footpaths and roads by unauthorised street hawkers, cops, and civic authorities across the State continued eviction drives on June 25, bulldozing temporary stalls and issuing warnings to hawkers.

In civic localities across Kolkata and its suburbs, like Alipore, New Town, and Behala, and in neighbourhoods in other districts like Alipurduar and Siuri, bulldozers were engaged by civic authorities and police to uproot unauthorised stalls encroaching on footpaths. That invoked panic and fear among street hawkers In many instances, including in the evictions that took place near Alipore Zoo on Wednesday, goods that were kept on the street and footpaths by hawkers, like clothes, packaged beverages, were also being seized by the police.

At Diamond Harbour Road in Behala, located in the southern fringes of the city, a streetside tea seller claimed that her stall was bulldozed and that she was threatened with arrest if she tried to reinstall her shop on the footpath. Hawkers outside Alipore Zoo claimed they were not given a chance to remove their goods from the footpaths before they were seized.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Leader of Opposition of the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari commented on the evictions on Wednesday, saying the Chief Minister should draw up a proper standard operating procedure regarding the encroachment of government land and give proper notice before evicting encroachers.

“Poor people of a specific community are being targeted. The BJP will stand with them,” he said.

Mr. Adhikari further added that the Chief Minister should work for the people of Bengal without worrying about a “specific votebank”, and said the BJP will protest if more establishments are bulldozed without prior notice. 

Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal said the eviction drives are being carried out across the city according to the directives of the Chief Minister. On Monday, the Chief Minister in a meeting with MLAs, civic authorities, senior police officials and bureaucrats strongly criticised MLAs and civic authorities for not addressing, but enabling unauthorised street hawkers and illegal encroachments on footpaths and roads.