KMC razes illegal stalls, reclaims govt plot on Anwar Shah Road
Times of India | 13 July 2025
Kolkata: The KMC on Saturday deployed earth movers to pull down shops and other structures that encroached on a govt plot on Prince Anwar Shah Road near Lord's crossing. The plot, owned by the state information and cultural affairs department at 355, Prince Anwar Shah Road, does not have a boundary wall, allowing encroachers a free run.
According to a KMC official, the drive was planned at the civic headquarters and was kept a secret to prevent the news from reaching the encroachers so that they did not get a chance to put up resistance. "We planned to conduct the drive with police without informing the encroachers about it, as that would have led to a ruckus and our work would have been hampered. Last time, the drive to oust encroachers from the state-owned plot was met with resistance. So, we decided on this surprise drive," said a senior KMC official.
A KMC solid waste management official said the civic team was mobilised at the Lord's crossing around 1 pm for the demolition. The presence of a large posse of policemen helped civic officials continue with the drive unhindered. "When we left, it was late evening. By then, we had demolished 48 stalls to free up the govt land," said a civic official, adding it was a 30-cottah plot.
According to a KMC official, the civic body will need to barricade the land now and keep a watch on it.
Back in June 2024, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had mentioned the encroachment on the Prince Anwar Shah plot while speaking about govt properties and public spaces being taken over illegally. There was an attempt to free the land in 2018, but it was unsuccessful, she had said.
Within hours of Banerjee's announcement last year, a police team had visited the plot and collected the names, addresses and phone numbers of the stall owners there. A KMC official had said they were demarcating a 7.5-cottah plot, while owners of the unauthorised structures on the land claimed it was 29-cottah. Now that the illegal structures have been pulled down, the KMC will calculate the exact area and build a wall around it. Stalls selling food, vegetables and lottery tickets and a Trinamool office were among those that occupied the plot, said an official.