The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is set to start a series of actions against "vagabonds" and other street dwellers who are taking away space from the pavements and roads, a senior official said on Monday.

"We plan to shift them to shelters for the homeless," he said.

The city's municipal commissioner (the KMC commissioner) wrote to the city's police commissioner on Monday seeking police support for the drives and the subsequent shifting of these people to shelters for the urban homeless.

A source in the KMC said drives have been planned on three stretches of roads in central and south Calcutta on Tuesday.

"Many of them are homeless people. We will provide them support and help them get a place in the shelters for the urban homeless. But there is also a section living on Calcutta's pavements who have homes elsewhere. They are gradually shrinking the open spaces on our footpaths," said a source in the KMC.

The KMC conducted drives in multiple places of the city earlier also, but the people staying on the pavements returned soon after the drives.

The street dwellers did not shift to the shelters saying it was too far from where they were working and would put them in trouble.

Another official said the drives were meant to increase the safety and security in the city, including those who are vulnerable and live under the open sky.