Docu hunt at largest city slum in Ultadanga for SIR enrolment
Times of India | 10 November 2025
Kolkata: From a scramble for documents to get the forms filled out, residents of Basanti Colony, off the Ultadanga railway station, Kolkata's biggest slum, are struggling to strike a balance between earning their daily livelihood and dealing with their SIR panic.
Struck by devastating fires three times in the past two decades, most people lost documents and were left with a govt-issued note stating that fire destroyed them. Basanti Colony was ravaged by major fires in 2000, 2008, and again in 2010. The last fire claimed 16 lives.
According to SIR 2002 data, 23 years ago, there were 3,200 voters here. Now, locals say this figure has increased to around 4,700. The thing that binds those on SIR list and those who are not is anxiety over the SIR process and a desperate hunt for documents.
The slum is inhabited by both Hindus and Muslims. Councillor Shantiranjan Kundu said, "This is compounded by the fact that most of the people here are illiterate."
Long queues of people lining up at the local Netaji sport ground at party-run help desks on Sunday only reflected this growing unease.
Basanti Colony, which falls under KMC's ward 3, started turning into a slum barely two years after Independence. People, mostly below the poverty line, from South and North 24 Parganas, settled here looking for livelihood around the city.
Thirty-five-year-old Selim Ali was born here. "Like most, those days, I was born at home, not in any hospital. I have stayed here all my life and now work here. In the 2010 fire, my home was gutted.
I lost all documents that I had. The govt then issued a note testifying my address and stating I lost everything in the fire. This will not help me with the SIR process. But beyond that, and my EPIC, I have nothing," Ali said.
The other problem here is whether certificates by the KMC under a special scheme for street dwellers (which many people have here) will be considered in SIR.
Kundu said, "Most people here were born at home. And many do not have birth certificates. I am told they have some certificates under a scheme launched in the Left era in 2005-10. But this is not acceptable under SIR."
Kalpana Das (67) has her name on 2002 list. "I was a Basirhat voter before marriage. All my documents are in the name of Kalpana. The 2002 list names me as Chapala Rishi Das. Chapala was what I was called at home back then. And Rishi is my family name. Nobody has a clue about how to resolve this," she said.