Ten stalls along the northern side of FD Park have been asked to vacate the space. The cluster of stalls, just around the corner from the Poura Bhavan main gate, enjoyed high footfall, especially at lunch time when a couple of pice hotels operated here alongside a Chinese food stall.
Sharadwat Mukherjee, the new MLA and minister, paid a visit to the spot on June 22 in the evening and asked the stall-keepers to dismantle the structures.
The stall-keepers said they were given time till 10am the next day. “We were told that the stalls would be razed at noon if we did not clear out,” said Anup Chaurasia, who ran a paan and soft drinks stall. “So I removed our mini refrigerator.”
A week after the visit, on Monday, only one stall had reopened while some of the owners of the other stalls were hanging around.
“Doctor babu (the minister) told us to operate from wheeled carts at the same spot and clear out at the day’s end. No cooking would be allowed here,” said Ashish Bajkhan.
“I had a cart ready so I could reopen today after a week. We operate only at lunch time. So we brought the dishes cooked from home,” said the Duttabad resident, who was frying only the parathas on the spot for customers seated under the shade. “We will leave by 4pm.”
But Gourirani Das, who ran Annapurna Hotel, has no idea how to manage, “We stay open from 6am to 10pm, offering meals and snacks. How can we bring cooked food for the whole day!”
The only stall which is still doing business. The owner says he had a cart. Notice the inner boundary wall which was built to create space for the stalls outside FD park. The original wall of the park is also partially visible
The slice of land, where the stalls stood, runs along the wall of the park. But the stall-keepers say that the original boundary was the waist-high brick wall which now demarcates their area from the rest of the pavement. “There were four of us, vendors, who operated on the pavement outside the park in CPM times. Trinamul Congress people cleared some ground inside the park, cemented the base and put up the shade overhead,” recalled Bajkhan.
The backstory
The root of this move can be traced to a decision by the erstwhile municipality to allow each councillor to open a fixed number of stalls on pavements in their area. The following is an excerpt from a cover story published by The Telegraph Salt Lake dated December 12, 2014, titled “Encroachers welcome”.
“The Bidhannagar Municipality has put its stamp of approval on a handful of kiosks that have come up on pavements in every ward, squarely blocking the paths of pedestrians...
Several kiosks, partially painted blue and white, have sprouted all across the township, set up by the municipality. Each ward is to get four of these shops bringing the total tally to around 100... Initially, the plan mooted by the municipality had specified that the shops would have to be mobile. But that precondition is being flouted in every ward.”
After two PILs were filed, an interim court order put the municipality’s plan on hold in March 2015. By then, 54 roadside stalls were built.
A document in support of possession put up on the downed shutter of first stall of the row, Chinese Window, at the Vivekananda Island. (right) A possession certificate granted by Bidhannagar Municipality for a telephone booth in 1998. The stall has since changed hands as well as nature and location
At least one of the 10 stalls in FD Block seems to owe its existence to that decision. It is one of two permanent structures at the two ends of the stretch. They seem to be the only ones in possession of some official document, which they have pasted on the downed shutters, possibly anticipating another official inspection.
The stall, Chinese Window, has pasted an allotment letter cum demand notice on the Bidhannagar Municipality letterhead for an annual licence fee, dated June 21, 2013. The letter mentions the approval of a recommendation by the councillor of Ward 13 for a roadside kiosk.
The other stall is the possession certificate of a telephone booth, measuring 80sq ft, dated February 16, 1998. “The booth was originally located where the back gate of the park is. When space was created for these stalls, we were asked to move here from the pavement,” said Das. The phone booth is now a cigarette shop with a branded signage. The one next to it offers video photography services at ceremonies. Some have also changed hands, according to sources.
The oldest of the stall-keepers, Naresh Bairagi, says he has ordered a van, which will take at least a fortnight to be ready. “This stall is the sole source of income to feed six mouths. Will they dismantle the shed over us as well?” he wondered.
Local residents want the late-night gatherings here to end. “The stalls are supposed to shut at 10pm but bike-borne customers make them stay open past midnight. We have complained about the ruckus earlier to the police. Hope that will end now,” said a resident of FD Block.
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