KMC to undertake drive to free Mullick Bazar of encroachment

KOLKATA: Civic authorities in Kolkata have said they will comply with the Calcutta High Court order and undertake a drive against encroachment in Mullick Bazar.
“We have to adhere to the court directive and take action against encroachment,” senior civic officials told TOI on Tuesday.
The Calcutta High Court had on Monday directed Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to clear the stretch of AJC Bose Road between Park Street and Nonapukur tram depot of encroachment by shopkeepers and street vendors selling used motor parts and accessories. It has given KMC 10 days to create awareness on the issue and explain to shop-owners and street vendors that they need to push back and free the road and pavements for motorists and pedestrians.
If that does not happen, it has given KMC three days thereafter to clear the area of encroachment. The court has also directed the Kolkata Police commissioner to inform the local police station to extend cooperation to KMC for the drive and also provide additional force if necessary.
Officials in KMC said the town-vending committee that is overseeing hawking issues in Kolkata will visit the used automobile spare parts and accessories market in Mullick Bazar to take stock of the situation, hold discussions with hawker unions there and suggest remedial measures to the civic body so that encroachment on the pavement and both flanks of AJC Bose Road opposite the market can be reined in.
The town-vending committee has conducted surveys in three major hawking zones: Gariahat, New Market and Hatibagan. It is set to re-allocate hawkers in Gariahat to free up sections of the pavement that have encroachment on both sides.
At Mullick Bazar, TOI found around 15-20ft of the Nonapukur- and Moulali-bound flank occupied by hundreds of two-wheelers, several of them dumped to be scrapped and others getting repaired or fitted with parts purchased at the market. A lane on the opposite flank is used for fittings in cars. While there is no KMC parking on either flanks, local parking mafia charges Rs 200 per hour from cars that park on the Park Street- and Theatre Road-bound flank.
The shop-keepers and even the street vendors selling used motor and two-wheeler parts blamed each other for the encroachment on the pavement but claimed they had nothing to do with the vehicles that were parked on the road and caused a jam. That, they said, were the handiwork of the scrap dealers that operated in the market that has expanded to around 10,000 shops in 1 sq km.
The hawkers’ committee and the traders’ associations claimed they were glad the high court had taken cognisance of the encroachment on the road and asked KMC to act. “We have submitted signed petitions from shopkeepers to the mayor, DC traffic and state pollution control board, seeking action about the pollution being caused by the scrap dealers. They are patronised by a section of politicians,” Md Musthaque, who represents a section of traders in the market, said.