The shadow of eviction is looming over the shanties lining the approach to Greenfield Heights, a residential complex in Action Area 1. Eviction notices have been served on a large number of stalls comprising a roadside market that draws its name, Athero Tola Bazaar, from the height of the HIG segment of the complex — 18 storeys.
On June 25, officials of New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) pasted eviction notices on the shutters of several stalls, directing “encroachers to remove and/or dismantle such encroachment within seven days”. If they could not physically complete the process of serving the notices across the market, it was because protesting stallkeepers blocked their way.
On Monday, the shopkeepers met the new MLA Piyush Kanodia and went in a big group to NKDA Bhavan. They have been promised temporary relief till the Pujas. Their plea for a permanent market would be considered, officials have said, but no assurance has been given of rehabilitation for all the stalls, which are rising in number with every passing year.
A customer reads the eviction notice on Monday morning, served by NKDA on the market on June 25
Mushrooming kiosks
Stalls have mushroomed along both sides of the street from the main gate of the MIG section of the complex towards the back of The Newtown School. The encroachments have spread at right angles to the road at the crossing, leading both towards Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) on one side and Jal Vayu Towers on the other.
The stalls seem to have come up in three stages, according to residents. “When I moved in here in 2008, there were only a few meat and fish shops on a plot behind our complex. The roads were clean,” said Rajdeep Ray of Greenfield Heights. “As more people settled, kiosks came up across the road from us, along the walls of CNCI. Down the years, they expanded sporadically up the road towards The Newtown School. Apprehending encroachment, our complex management had cordoned off the space along our walls with bamboo fencing. But during the pandemic, a new lot of encroachers set up bamboo poles inside our fenced-in zone and set up stalls, ignoring our protests,” said Ray, who had posted about the construction of the new stalls on social media in June 2020.
“There are 333 shops here. We have curtailed the list from 350, leaving out the rented ones. It is the oldest market in the area,” said Chandranath Mandal, the founder-secretary of Athero Tola Bazar Committee.
The shopkeepers point out that NKDA had undertaken multiple surveys — four times being the majority consensus — to determine the number of shops and their keepers. “The last survey took place in 2024. We submitted our Aadhaar and voter cards and the officials came to take pictures of our shops, uploading them on the spot for online verification on their app,” recalled Mandal.
On the basis of such surveys, they had received free coronavirus vaccines from the government and also compensations of Rs 2,000 each when Cyclone Amphan destroyed some of the stalls, including the makeshift ones that the NKDA had shifted them to on a vacant plot at the crossing to ensure social distancing during the pandemic.
But shopkeepers say the main reason for the survey was rehabilitation. “A multi-storeyed building was supposed to have come up. There was a board announcing it as a site for DJ Block Market. A soil test had taken place. But nothing came of it,” said A.K. Pandey, one of the stallkeepers.
Fingers are being pointed at a local Trinamul leader, Mohsin Gazi, for the proliferation of stalls after word got round of the market construction. “Hidco was ready to create space for 300 shops. But Gazi wanted another 80-100 names added. That is why Hidco backtracked and we are still left in the lurch,” said Pabitra Naskar, the current secretary of the market committee, who runs Pratyush Digital Studio, a photocopy shop.
Their disappointment is more acute as hawker rehabilitation markets have come up adjacent to TCS Gitanjali Park in Action Area IIF, opposite Unitech gate No.1 at ID Block in Action Area I and near Shukhobrishti in Action Area III. “Those markets were far newer,” Naskar pointed out.
The project map for the proposed DJ Market uploaded with a 2021 call for a design contest on the NKDA website. The site is indicated in red
A scan of the NKDA website indeed reveals a call for entries for a design competition in June 2021 for construction of a rehabilitation market in DJ Block. “The design proposal will be G+1 structure with provision for construction of 6 additional floors (that is G+1 building with provision for G+7). Other than the required service and circulation core(s). It is proposed that floors above (2nd to 7th floor, proposed for future expansion) will comprise open floor plate which the client may lease/ sell in future as retail/ commercial/ institutional space,” the announcement had said.
Words from officials
With the deadline for shifting mentioned in the NKDA notice expiring on July 1, the vendors are on the edge. A meeting was called by the market committee on Monday morning where MLA Kanodia was invited. “The development work of the new government cannot be impeded. When old markets like Mechhua and Sealdah have been cleared, a new township like New Town cannot remain in this state. The situation is the fault of the earlier government, which had sold off shops meant for land losers to others, leaving the actual candidates in the lurch,” he told The Telegraph Salt Lake.
Kanodia said he would ask the NKDA to wait till after Durga puja, so that the shop keepers get adequate time to move out. Asked about their rehabilitation, Kanodia was non-commital.
“I do not want to make false commitments. But this (illegal encroachment) is a problem that will only get bigger so it needs to be addressed right now,” Kanodia said.
Within hours of the meeting, the vendors set off for NKDA Bhavan in a big group, of which four members met the officials. After 15 minutes of conversation, they returned with smiles on their faces.
According to NKDA sources, the vendors based their appeal on the claim that it was a 20-year-old market. “The earlier government did not take a firm stand with regard to roadside encroachment but this government has. We had tried to move them twice earlier but they did not budge. Now they have been told to accept the inevitability that they would have to leave. Since it is an old market, the matter of their rehabilitation is being considered sympathetically at the highest level but no decision has yet been taken. The chief minister has said livelihoods will not be snatched. So even if we provide them with alternative space, it will apply only to those whose livelihoods depend on the stall, not those who have rented out their stalls or those who own multiple stalls,” said an NKDA official, adding that the civic authority was in possession of the database on the market.
A fish and meat market on a large plot behind Greenfield Heights that hawkers say is the oldest in the area.
Of the 350-odd stalls, about 200 belong to local land losers, say members of the market committee. “I have the settlement notice dated April 4, 2002 whereby my father Habibar Rahaman Gazi was offered Rs 19,198.06 as compensation for our land. It was half the market rate but he accepted,” said Md. Mahbub Gazi. “We used to sow paddy on our field,” he recalled wistfully.
“Jyoti Basu’s son (Chandan Basu) built this complex,” Gazi continued. “His company officials came and said factories would come up here and people would get jobs. My father and uncle gave up their land in the hope of that. And since 2010, NKDA is making empty promises about a market,” he said bitterly.
The oldest stalls are the ones on an empty plot behind Greenfield Heights, numbering between 50 and 70. “This market is 20 years old. This plot does not belong to Hidco. The owner is missing. If we find him, we are ready to pool in funds to buy it,” said Prabir Mondal, president of the committee, who runs a chicken shop here.
Vendors like Mahiuddin Gazi, who runs a vegetable shop, comes from Jhaligachhi, a village near DPS Megacity. “We have seen the 18-storeyed buildings come up here.” Mutton seller Sunil Mondal is another land loser who believes they were poorly compensated. “We could sow three crops — paddy in summer and monsoon, and kalai daal in winter,” he recalled.
Many of them blame Trinamul leader Mohsin Gazi for the mushrooming of stalls on the streets. “Otherwise, we would not have got into trouble with NKDA,” they complained, with an appeal that their situation be considered separately from the roadside encroachers.
Consumer voices
Ray is all for the roads to be cleared. “Ask the residents of Greenfield Heights what percent of us shop downstairs. You will find the number to be less than 15 per cent. Doorstep delivery from apps is far more convenient,” said the interior designer, who buys only chicken from Athero Tala market. He points to a scrap dealer’s shop along the CNCI wall to be a source of stench and visual pollution. “Make no mistake, many of them are quite well-off,” he claimed.
“Our complex is one of the oldest in New Town. We used to go to Salt Lake to shop when we first came. There was no online shopping then. Now there are also other brick-and-mortar options like Spencers at Axis Mall and the NKDA community markets,” said Rajib Konar, an IT professional who shops for fish at Athero Tola Bazaar but uses quick-commerce platforms for grocery needs.
MLA Piyush Kanodia (seated with saffron scarf) at the meeting with the street vendors at Athero Tola Bazar on Monday
The Telegraph Salt Lake met several local residents who said they were completely dependent on Athero Tola Bazar. “There is no other market here. The NKDA community market in DB Block is inadequate. Here we have ample options in all products and the rates are, therefore, competitive,” said Amitava Dhar, a DB Block resident, who read the eviction notice on one of the stalls before speaking to The Telegraph Salt Lake on Monday.
Anisha Agarwal came by car from One10 housing complex. “We have shifted here just three months ago. This is the only market in the neighbourhood,” she said.
Konar felt building a market nearby would be a win-win solution. “Of course, we want the streets to be cleared of shanties but convenience of supply of essentials cannot be ignored as well,” he summed up.