Calcutta's Pavements and Roads Cleared in Massive "Clean-Up Drive" by Authorities

On Wednesday, structures that had long been a permanent fixture on Calcutta's streets and thoroughfares were destroyed by bulldozers.

Many residents of Calcutta could not recall any occasion when bulldozers had been used to retake public areas since the unsuccessful Operation Sunshine attempt to liberate some of the city's most recognizable areas in 1996.

The "clean-up drive" took place at a number of locations, including New Market, Bentinck Street, Alipore, Behala, New Town, and sections of the EM Bypass between Mani Square and PC Chandra Garden.

The stall proprietors were informed of the upcoming crackdown by the local police stations by Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. The message was straightforward: before driving, remove anything that is obstructing the pavement and roads.

Almost two hours later, the payloaders and bulldozers started to show up on sections of the roadways. In some other regions, where the obstacles were not as intimidating as steel and cement structures, human hands operated the machine.

At each location, small trucks were stationed to move the remnants of the buildings.

"On Tuesday evening, the police arrived and informed me of the drive." However, moving a stall that has been there for more than ten years is a more difficult task, as a Behala hawker put it. A notice arrived on Wednesday morning, according to the proprietor of an improvised cafe next to the zoo in Alipore.
What was observed on Wednesday

Alipore

On Wednesday afternoon, some fifty stalls that were situated on either side of the zoo's entrance, across from Taj Bengal, were taken down. Serving everything from hot meals to snacks and soft drinks, the most of them have been in business for many years.

Most of the stalls were empty by the time the bulldozer came. That included the beverage-filled freezers, the hardwood tables, and the plastic sheeting. The buildings were demolished in front of KMC representatives and the police.

A senior official of the Alipore police station declared, "The drive will continue over the next few days," before taking out some of the goods that had been taken during the drive. A few of the stall proprietors, who were women, appeared obviously upset. The recurring theme: what comes next?

Behala

By 1.30pm, almost fifty buildings that had been situated on either side of Diamond Harbour Road, primarily between Taratala and the Behala police station, had disappeared. On the road were the remnants of several of these stalls. While another offered fish for aquariums, the other sold parathas for breakfast. A third offered soft drinks, cigarettes, and other goods for sale.

A few of these stalls were located at the base of the Taratala flyover, directly outside the gates of the Old Dog Race Course housing complex. They had come to represent the complex. They would be open nearly all the time. According to a neighbor, even the police officers on night patrol would frequently swing by for a smoke or a cup of tea late at night.

Two more of these stalls were being wheeled away, each by a group, around 200 meters away. The police said that the owners of them were local residents.

Bentinck Street

There were a number of improvised restaurants along the walkways beside Bentinck Street, which ran between Ganesh Chandra Avenue and Waterloo Street. Wednesday at 4 p.m., the area had been cleaned.

Bicycles had taken over nearly the whole sidewalk along one of the pavements where cycle businesses were located. During the afternoon drive, rows of bicycles and plastic sheets for covering were also taken out.

Taking bystanders by surprise, teams from the KMC and the Hare Street police station started the cleanup effort in the afternoon. Plastic sheet tops were removed from temporary stalls on either side of the road that leads to the Lalbazar police station.

Wooden tables and other objects obstructing the walkways were removed by small trucks after being confiscated. The owner of a food booth on Bentinck Street claimed, "Police said they had orders and would not wait to remove the black plastic sheets above and even some of the furniture on the footpath."

Apollo

The target was a group of about twenty improvised stalls that were situated along the boundary wall of Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals near Mani Square Mall and took up a portion of the service road. A payloader arrived at the location at around 3:30 pm and started to remove the buildings.

According to the authorities, several of the stores that sold meals to hospital visitors did so using gas cylinders for cooking. The payloader, with black plastic sheets covering its top, made its way past the rows of stores, prompting several stall owners to walk away. Following the cleanup, there was significantly more room for cars on the portion of the service road that ran along the hospital's wall.

Chandra Garden PC

During a drive on Wednesday afternoon, rows of temporary buildings next to the drainage canal, off the EM Bypass, close to PC Chandra Garden, were cleared.

A senior police official at the Anandapur police station stated, "The shops along Basanti Highway posed a threat to those visiting them amid a steady flow of vehicles." "The stall owners were ready because they were informed about the drive three hours in advance."