Illegal club structures, mkt stall extensions go in Lansdowne eviction drive two days after min’s visit
Times of India | 19 August 2026
Kolkata: A pushback drive to clear the roads around Lansdowne Market triggered frantic activity on Tuesday, with hawkers pulling down bamboo frames, removing plastic sheets and trimming stall extensions two days after urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul inspected the area.
On Monday evening, a KMC payloader demolished three club structures that had allegedly encroached on pavements along Townshend Road, Ramesh Mitter Road and Prannath Pandit Street. Among the structures removed was a newly revamped office of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a BJP-backed street hawkers’ association.
During her Sunday visit, Paul had made it clear that she would not tolerate politics in the development and upkeep of the market. She also instructed Bhowanipore police and KMC market department officials to ensure encroachments inside and outside the market were removed within 48 hours.
By Tuesday morning, vendors who had set up makeshift structures against the market wall were seen replacing them with parasols.“I had built a bamboo structure with a plastic sheet to shield the stall. But with cops warning us of eviction and confiscation of goods, I had to comply. I will now buy a parasol for use during the monsoon,” said Bappa Shaw, a vegetable vendor.
Bijoy Ghosh, who runs a tea shop on Binoy Bose Road, said,“The tea shop is more than 20 years old and now I am being instructed to do business only on the existing narrow pavement with no permanent structure.”
Several hawkers reduced the size of their stalls, freeing up carriageway space. By Tuesday noon, cars could enter stretches where even two-wheelers had difficulty navigating. “It was so difficult to bring out my car negotiating the street as hawkers encroached more than half of it,” said Monoj Agarwal, a local.
Around 100 m west of Lansdowne Market, 11 Stars, a TMC-supported club that occupied the pavement near Ladies Park on Ramesh Mitter Road, was demolished during Monday evening’s anti-encroachment drive. “People are celebrating as the club had become a den for anti-socials,” said Rajib Chakraborty, a local.
On Townshend Road, the BMS office opposite Sharma Petrol Pump was also razed. Ranjit Roy, proposed general secretary of the BMS unit, said, “We spent about a lakh to revamp the 25-year-old party office which was inaugurated on Sunday and completely demolished within 24 hours.”
Anil Saha, vice-president of Bhowanipur Mondal 1, said the plot had changed hands over the years. “Initially it was a playground for a kindergarten school, later encroached upon to build a Forward Bloc party office,” he said. Young Boys’ Club on Prannath Pandit Street, was the third structure demolished on Monday. Officials said all three clubs had been served eviction notices 15 days ago.