Midnight Bulldozer Drive at Jadavpur Railway Station
Kolkata witnessed a midnight bulldozer drive that cleared “encroachers,” mostly engaged in the construction materials business, on the precincts of Jadavpur railway station during the night between Sunday and Monday. Approximately 35-40 “illegal structures” were razed on the land adjacent to platform 2 during the operation.
Protests and Arrests
The station area turned into a battlefield when Left and Congress leaders and activists jointly tried to resist the eviction and staged a protest, demanding that the traders should not be removed without rehabilitation. CPM’s Srijan Bhattacharya was detained and later released. Police arrested five individuals — Tirthankar Sengupta (43), Arindam Bhattacharjee (31), Partha Seal (18), Suva Das, and Sudam Patra — for violence. The accused were produced in the Alipore Court on Monday, where they were granted bail. Police claimed that seven Kolkata Police personnel were injured when about 1,200-odd people pelted stones at them.
Police reportedly resorted to a lathi charge on the protesters, leaving many of them, including theatre activist Jayaraj Bhattacharya and Ritabrata Ghosh, injured. “I sustained head injuries during the lathi charge and was taken to a hospital. Our movement against the eviction drive will continue,” Bhattacharya said. Students of Jadavpur University held a protest, blocking roads in front of Sukanta Setu and JU Gate 4 after Srijan was detained.
Details of the Demolition Drive
Trouble started brewing in the area after 6 pm on Sunday when two bulldozers were wheeled onto the site, and Kolkata Police, railway police, and central forces personnel were deployed. The demolition drive was rolled out around midnight, locals said. CPM’s Sujan Chakraborty and Congress’s Ashutosh Chatterjee and Sourav Prasad were among the protesters.
Trader Mintu Das Gupta, whose shop was razed, said, “The demolition happened without giving us any prior notice and it went on till 4 am on Monday. I have been running my business here since 1989. My labourers used to sleep in the shop. I have not seen such atrocity even during the Naxalite movement of the 1970s. I incurred about Rs 60,000 loss.” Some of the evicted traders claimed to have been doing business on the land since the 1960s and 1970s.
Among the encroachers are also some slum dwellers who have been asked to vacate the land in the next 15 days. Pradip Barui, a driver, said, “We have been living here for around 70 years. It will be difficult for us to find an alternative home in such a short time.” Lalita Devi, whose hotel was demolished, said, “We were sleeping when cops asked us to move out. Where will we go now?”
Legal Challenge
Six of the traders moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the demolition drive. They claimed they have been holding commercial leases of the land, given by the railway, for more than 30 years. The case will be heard by Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya on June 10. “They have been paying licence fees; despite this fact, the railway is trying to evict them, calling them illegal hawkers. In 1986, the railways tried to evict them in a similar fashion and they filed a petition before the High Court. By an order of 1988, the High Court upheld the leases granted and upheld their right to carry on their trade in that area,” their counsel, advocate Deeptangshu Kar, told TOI. Kar also said, “Their structures are not on the platform but in the surrounding area.”
