The newly elected MLA of Bidhannagar, Sharadwat Mukherjee, undertook several visits to block markets, maintained by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, over the past week, on what he called “fact-finding missions”. The bulk of the time was spent in spotting illegal encroachers and uncovering what they claimed were extortion rackets that allowed them to settle there in the first place.
Renovation in need
At BD Market on May 21, shopkeepers flocked to felicitate Mukherjee and then poured their hearts out. “The renovation of our market is not complete. There are portions that are unusable, and much of it lacks a shed overhead. It’s so hot that just the other day a customer fainted,” said Montu Choudhury, a fruit seller.
“I know. My own father fainted and fell in BD Market in 2009 and got a haemorrhage,” replied Mukherjee, a resident of AD Block, inspecting the tarpaulin sheets and exposed rods overhead.
He enquired about fire safety and though president Gour Hari Pradhan said they had a couple of extinguishers, none knew how to operate them. “Bulbs are hanging from ropes instead of the proper way from plugs. Why aren’t you using MCBs (miniature circuit breakers) meant for your safety? This is dangerous and untidy,” he scolded them.
He noted how waste was dumped in drains instead of bins, because there were none. “At least, place one bin in every corridor. You spend more time here than at home, then why do you not keep the market tidy like your homes?” he argued.
When asked about the quality of plastic bags used, the vendors produced high-micron ones that they claimed to be using. “Why, you never pack my things in these, Bubai?” Mukherjee confronted potato seller Bubai Ghosh, who smiled sheepishly.
“I’ve been selling here for 40 years, and daktar babu (Mukherjee is an oncologist) buys from me,” Bubai said, promising to toe the line.
Mukherjee enquired about several shops that were shut. “I want a list of shops that have been closed for three years. How can they lie unused when there are no jobs in the state! These must be handed over to others who can make use of them,” he said.
Tank for more stalls
Similar points emerged at AE Market on May 22, where Mukherjee also noted how chunks of the ceiling were falling off near the toilet. He also warned vendors that storing merchandise in corridors reduced pedestrian space and was considered encroachment.
During the visit to Baisakhi’s AG Market on May 24, vice-president Bijoy Kumar Roy shared how their water tank had been demolished a few years ago to make space for a few more stalls. “We were promised a new tank, but are still waiting. Despite working out of a brick-and-mortar market, we have to depend on the municipal ‘time kol’ now,” he complained.
Judgement day
At every single market, however, infrastructural issues seemed to be a formality before the elephant in the room appeared: illegal hawkers.
Opposite BD Market, a taal sash vendor had carpeted the footpath with discarded shells. “We don’t want to hurt your business, but pedestrians have nowhere left to walk. It would be different if you were using a cycle van and moved away after a few hours, but you’re squatting on the pavement and blocking a private gate,” Mukherjee told the hawker from Bhangor.
He spoke to a resident, Mohan Singh, before whose house this nuisance plays out daily, and asked him to send a written complaint. “I urge all residents to send such letters to strengthen the case against encroachment,” Mukherjee said, as Singh thanked him for addressing his age-old problem.
Two vendors claiming to be from Sufal Bangla, the retail chain of the department of agricultural marketing, were accused of blocking road space in BD and AE markets. The MLA demanded the contact numbers of the hawkers’ superiors and ordered them over phone that they not return till they could produce proper documentation.
Outside Baisakhi Market, one hawker gave a Hindu name but was later discovered to be from a different community. “I have nothing against people from other religions, so long as they are bonafide Indians. So do not lie,” Mukherjee told the vendor.
When asked about the two temples that have come up at the edge of BD Market, Mukherjee said he would inspect the master plan. “Nothing illegal can be allowed,” he said.
Whiff of foul play
As news of the MLA’s visit spread, crowds gathered and complaints of extortion flooded in. As the accused were called out, dramatic scenes unfolded, leading to altercations and finally police intervention.
The footpaths and spaces lining the outside of BD Market had vendors selling everything from fruits, vegetables and snacks to flowers to pillows.
Md. Ehsan said his kiosk had been set up a few years ago with the councillor’s nod. The MLA tried calling her and, when she was unreachable, locals handed him an aide’s number. “How have all these illegal hawkers been sanctioned? Ask the councillor to call me!” Mukherjee told the aide.
The MLA said that 90 per cent of complaints at Baisakhi Market were against Bapi Ghosh, who runs a food shop there.
Babloo Basak, an elderly confectioner, indignantly recalled how he was harassed by Bapi, a Trinamul muscleman, and his aides. “They upturned my vehicle, violently smeared me with green abir and one of them even defaecated before my shop,” the man complained.
Other food shop owners said that if Bapi wanted to raise the price of his food, he would force every other shop to do the same to keep parity. But the strongest accusation against him was of extortion. A scuffle broke out, and Bapi managed to vanish, after which his wife tearfully faced the MLA.
Complaints against Bapi only multiplied as the MLA moved on to inspect the “Chhata Bajar” behind AMP Vaisaakkhi mall. This is a market that has come up on an empty plot with around 70 kiosks. Many of these metallic kiosks have garden umbrellas on top, hence the name.
“Bapi would extort money from us in the name of Ganesh puja — Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 — whatever he felt like,” said hawker Sukhen Pande, as others pushed their way through the crowd to share similar accounts with the MLA. When Bapi could not be found, vendors named an aide Somanth Bhattacharya, who was then produced. “I am a retired college staffer and was asked by the councillor to keep records of the money Bapi got,” Bhattacharya confessed.
The MLA noted that while Chhata Bajar was illegal, “we cannot end the livelihood of so many hawkers who sit here. The vendors were victims of extortion. The records are maintained here meticulously, and for the last year alone, I saw extortion money totalling Rs 17 lakh. We will investigate further and get to the root of this,” he said.
In police custody
The scene escalated even further in CA Market on Monday, with all and sundry pointing fingers at Chandan Bhattacharya, a Duttabad resident who said he ran an ad agency and was close to the councillor. A letter, signed by 64 residents of the ward, was submitted to the MLA accusing Chandan and another aide Samar Dutta, of extortion, torture, and criminal intimidation.
Samar could not be produced but as the MLA spoke to Chandan face-to-face, their voices were frequently drowned by shouts of “Chandan chor!” “Maar okey!” and pleas to hand him over to the public so they could thrash him. Not just Duttabad residents, even CA Block residents looked down from balconies or came down to join the chorus against the man, adding that they knew he was notorious.
“He shut my flower shop and refused to open it till I paid him,” said Minota Mondal, who cannot write much but dictated her complaints to a volunteer who drafted a letter on the spot for her to sign.
Rajat Kumar Paira, who has an aquarium shop, said he deposited Rs 1,20,000 at the ward office for his kiosk on the outer boundary wall on CA Market. “But I was given no receipt.”
In his defence, Chandan said he wouldn’t produce receipts as no one demanded them. “It is all black money then,” deduced the MLA, and called the police. But in that short walk to the police car, the man was heckled and kicked. Even as he sat inside the car, blows rained on him through the open window, and someone beat him with his shoe. He was arrested and remanded in police custody for 10 days.
Give and take
The marketplaces broke into applause when, after such ordeals, the MLA picked up the megaphone and announced: “Apnara kauke charana o deben na (You are not to pay anyone even a penny). You are now free to conduct business. Don’t pay anyone in the name of Puja, Christmas, Id or even in my name. If anyone approaches you for money, get them arrested.”
But Mukherjee asked the vendors for something in return. “I need you to keep the place clean and refrain from using plastic. There can be no drinking or anti-social activities in the markets at night, and most of all, I need you to get your shops legalised,” he said, asking vendors to produce their ID cards and whatever documentation they had at Poura Bhavan. “This way you will be identified and numbered and given hawker I-cards.”
The road ahead
Once news spread of the MLA’s surprise visits, members of Bidhannagar Kendriya Bajar Byabsayee Samity (that comprises all 16 block markets here) held a meeting at BJ Market. “This move is highly welcome, and we are glad our woes are finally being addressed. We were tired of approaching mayor Krishna Chakraborty and mayoral council member in charge (MMIC) of markets, Rajesh Chirimar, with our demands,” said secretary Shyamal Kanti Roy.
The committee has asked all markets to keep a written list of their demands ready, just in case the MLA comes calling. “We shall seek an appointment with him and visit him formally too,” Roy said.
When The Telegraph Salt Lake contacted Rajesh Chirimar, mayor-in-council in charge of markets, on May 23, he stated that he had resigned from the post on May 21.
Asked about the resignation, mayor Chakraborty said on Monday that she had not received any such letter. “Amar kachhe ekhono paini ami. Ami shunechhi, ami paini. (I have heard of this but have not received anything about it formally),” she said.
When asked if the civic markets were under the jurisdiction of an MLA, Chakraborty declined comment. “Eta niye amar kichhu bolar neyi. Uni janapratinidhi, uni kothay jaben seta onar byapar. Ekta MLA kothay jabe ki ami thik korte pari? Ami pari na. (He is a people’s representative and is free is go wherever he wants. I cannot tell an MLA where to go. I have nothing to add on this,” she said.
Meanwhile, MLA Mukherjee on Monday said he keeps visiting Poura Bhavan to speak to councillors but never finds anyone there. “It’s a case of laapata councillors,” he said, in a sarcastic reference to the film Laapataa (Lost) Ladies.
Write to saltlake@abp.in