A curious paper trail has been unfolding across the walls of block markets in Salt Lake over the past week, centred on a notice that appeared suddenly and was then just as abruptly withdrawn. Both notices carried the letterhead of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), yet neither bore a signature or official stamp.
The first notice, spotted in markets on May 23, claimed that “on the basis of specific complaints lodged” by the new MLA, owners of unauthorised stalls and other commercial structures around block markets and occupying nearby footpaths had been directed to clear out within seven days or face legal action. The unsigned notice, dated May 22, surfaced days after MLA Sharadwat Mukherjee began inspecting the municipal markets on May 21. Though printed on the BMC letterhead, it carried only the words “Anumatyanushare (By order), Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation” at the bottom.
The notice, dated May 22, ordering unauthorised stalls to be removed in seven days.
The notice sparked confusion and anxiety among the hawkers, many of whom have been doing business from the respective locations for years, particularly amid the eviction drives undertaken against illegal encroachments at railway stations and elsewhere across the state following the swearing-in of the BJP government.
However, during a visit to Baisakhi Market on May 24, Mukherjee said an incorrect notice was being circulated quoting him and maintained that he had merely urged the Corporation to conduct a survey to identify the legal hawkers in the markets of Salt Lake, Sreebhumi, Lake Town and Bangur Avenue.
“I never spoke of forcefully removing structures. First, we need to make out which structures are legal and which are not. What we want in seven days is for hawkers to furnish their identity cards and any authorisation papers they may have. I have spoken to the municipal commissioner over phone and he said he had issued the notice in a hurry,” Mukherjee said.
Addressing reporters, he announced: “Shongshodhoni bigyopti berobe agami kal. Sekhane ki lekha hobe bole dichchi — amra saat diner modhye nothibhukto korbo sobar nothipotro dekhe, kontar kagoj achhe, kontar nei. (A revised notice will be issued tomorrow. I am telling you what will be written in it — we will check everyone’s documents and draw up a list of stalls which have validity and which have not).”
The episode has also raised questions about the extent to which a local MLA can influence decisions at a municipal corporation, which is run by an elected civic board.
Meanwhile, then municipal commissioner Sujay Sarkar was transferred out of the BMC under a government order dated May 21 that reshuffled 17 IAS officers. He could not be reached to clarify whether the MLA’s proposal had been discussed with the mayor or whether the unsigned notice had been issued at his instance.
The new commissioner, Ravi Agarwal, joined office on Monday, May 25. By that evening, a fresh notice had begun appearing across markets, pasted over the earlier ones. This notice merely stated that the previous one stood cancelled. It too was unsigned.
The cancellation notice dated May 25. Both notices are unsigned
“We have no information on who is putting up these notices but since they carry no signature, they have no validity,” mayor Krishna Chakraborty told The Telegraph Salt Lake on Tuesday. “Anyone can print a writing pad with the BMC letterhead and I am no detective to go searching for who is doing this,” she added.
saltlake@abp.in