A massive anti-encroachment drive was carried out outside Howrah railway station past midnight, with bulldozers demolishing rows of makeshift shops and illegal structures along the stretch from the Ganga ghat to the station premises, officials said on Sunday.
The operation, conducted jointly by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), railway authorities and Howrah City Police, saw heavy deployment of security personnel across the area to prevent any untoward incident during the eviction drive.
Many temporary stalls and structures occupying footpaths and public spaces near the bus stand and Ganga ghat area were removed using bulldozers and earthmovers as part of a railway land clearance initiative for passengers' convenience.
The Railways, however, has not issued any official statement, but when asked, officials said it was a part of a regular cleanup operation.
The encroachments had for years caused severe congestion and inconvenience to passengers entering and exiting the station, one of the busiest railway terminals in the country. Visuals from the spot showed police barricading large sections of the area while bulldozers razed roadside shops selling food items, plastic goods and other daily-use articles.
Some hawkers alleged they were not given adequate prior notice before the demolition drive was conducted and claimed their livelihoods had been severely affected. Several traders said many of the stalls had existed for decades and demanded rehabilitation or alternative vending arrangements from the authorities.
"There should be beautification and proper management, but poor vendors should also be rehabilitated," one hawker said.
Eyewitnesses said tension briefly flared up when some vendors attempted to resist the eviction, leading to heated exchanges and pushing between police personnel and protesters. However, the situation was later brought under control.
Authorities maintained that the operation was necessary to clear illegal occupation of railway land and improve pedestrian movement and security around the station area. Police deployment in the locality continued on Sunday morning.
Suvendu Adhikari's target: Bhaipo’s ‘corruption’, voter suppression network
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has signalled an intent to expose the alleged model of corruption, violence, lawlessness and voter suppression run by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and his associates.
“Respected Bhaipo Babu, yesterday I obtained the property list from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The growth of your Leaps and Bounds (company) includes 24 properties in Calcutta,” he said, having chosen Abhishek’s political turf to address his first political rally as chief minister.
“You have a palace-like office in Amtala. What have you done? Do we not know what these goons (Jahangir Khan and others) did using the police?” the CM told the party workers’ meeting in Falta — an Assembly segment in Abhishek’s parliamentary constituency of Diamond Harbour — where a re-election is scheduled on May 21.
Suvendu’s comments were a clear message that his government had begun investigating the alleged wrongdoings and corruption of the previous government, led by Mamata and Abhishek.
Three Trinamool Congress leaders arrested over financial corruption, extortion cases
Three persons associated with the Trinamool Congress, including a gram panchayat chief and an INTTUC leader, have been arrested in separate cases of financial corruption and extortion.
In the first case, police arrested Smritikana Mondal, the head of the Trinamool-run Bilaimari panchayat and her husband, Anil, for defalcation of nearly ₹13 crore at the Sahanagar Krishi Unnayan Samiti Limited mini bank in Ratua 1 block.
Based on a complaint lodged on May 14 by Hriday Mondal, the police initiated a probe and arrested Smritikana and Anil on Thursday night.
Somnath Saha, the subdivisional police officer of Chanchal, said the investigation was in progress. In another incident, the police arrested a leader of the INTTUC — Trinamool’s trade union — on Friday night on charges of extorting money from e-rickshaw drivers.
Saddam Sheikh is the vice-president of the INTTUC’s Kaliachak 1 block unit.
The police said Sheikh, who is from Ghorialichak, has been forcibly collecting money from the drivers in Kaliachak for a long time.
The police in North Dinajpur arrested Rantu Das, the district president of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), on Friday from Calcutta for allegedly being involved in an illegal lottery racket. Nawab Ali, another accused, was arrested from Mirik in connection with the same case.
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