From Hazra to Exide crossing, encroachers get shift notices
Times of India | 4 July 2026
Kolkata: Hawkers on both sides of Asutosh Mukherjee Road in Bhowanipore have started receiving notices from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to remove their stalls immediately.
The 2.1-km stretch runs from Hazra crossing to Exide More. Around 750 hawkers run businesses on the pavements there. The pavement outside Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s ancestral house at 77, Asutosh Mukherjee Road, which has also been encroached on for nearly three decades, is under scrutiny.
Monoj Kumar Gupta, 48, has been running a garments stall on the pavement for 30 years. He said he has not been sleeping properly for the past few days. “Every night I pack up all the stocks and carry them back with me to my Turf Road residence,” said Gupta.
Like Gupta, many hawkers selling garments, footwear and other items on the pavement have stopped leaving goods inside their stalls after the KMC notice on June 30.
Hawker Sinjan Banik, 57, from Bansdroni, said he cannot carry his goods home every day because of the distance. He now pays daily to keep his garments in a storeroom in an old building near his shop.
Rita Prasad, Goutam Manna and Subhendu Adak, hawkers on the western side of the road, received hand-delivered notices on Wednesday. They are still doing business after resisting the move.
Avrajit Dutta, who owns a 50-year-old shop on the stretch, said, “The hawkers expanded their business space in an uncontrolled manner for the last few years. Here in many places, hardly 3 feet of pavement space is left for pedestrians.”
Mihir Kayal and his wife, Bula Kayal, who run a stall near the main entrance of Jadu Babu’s bazaar, have not yet received a notice. But they said they are worried.
A 150-foot tin shed was built there by the KMC in 2022 as part of a market beautification project. Hawkers under the shed now fear it may be removed. “We were informed that this permanent iron structure may get demolished soon,” said Kayal.
Gurdeep Singh, who rents a 6-by-5-foot shop under the same shed for Rs 3,500 a month, said he also paid Rs 3 lakh as salami to a fruit seller from Bihar in March 2024. “I survived last pavement clear-up drive in June 2024 after a sudden eviction order by former CM Mamata Banerjee as we knew at least this place is protected but now the scene is different,” Singh said.
A 40-foot stretch of pavement on the western side of Asutosh Mukherjee Road, opposite the market, has also been illegally occupied and covered with a shed allegedly by supporters of Madan Mitra. That stretch may also face action.
Dipmalya Nath, a resident of nearby Justice Dwarkanath Road and a BJP worker, said, “Enough is enough. Due to the irresponsible behaviour of hawkers, legitimate shoppers are losing the daily business .The nuisance should be stopped at some point at least .”
Jagganath Saha, president of the CITU-run Kolkata Street Hawkers’ Union, Bhowanipore unit 2, said the hawkers plan to take legal action. “We plan to move court for an interim stay order and approached senior advocate and counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya,” Saha said.