The protesting school employees did not shift to the footpath outside Central Park from the road outside Bikash Bhavan till Sunday evening, though Bidhannagar City Police and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation sources said they had made arrangements specified in Calcutta High Court’s order.

A bone of contention between the authorities and the protesting school employees was whether an electricity connection would be provided in the canopy built outside the gate of the swimming pool at Central Park. While the protesters wanted the connection, police said the court’s order did not mention it.

If the protesters wanted electricity in the canopy, they should approach the high court and get an order, said a senior officer of Bidhannagar City Police.

A canopy was built on the footpath across the road, outside Bikash Bhavan, where the protesters were still on a sit-in on Sunday.

“The police should first tell us that all arrangements have been made on the stretch of the footpath outside Central Park. We will then inspect the stretch and see whether it is fit for us to shift there. We can take a decision only after the inspection,” said Rakesh Alam, a protesting schoolteacher.

Chinmoy Mondal, another protesting schoolteacher, said they had requested police to provide an electricity connection inside the canopy built for them. “It is impossible to sit there without fans this summer,” he said.

A police officer, however, told Metro on Sunday evening that the high court’s order asking the protesters to shift to Central Park did not mention that the authorities have to provide an electricity connection to the sacked school employees during their sit-in.

“We are only following the high court’s order. If the protesters want anything not mentioned in the order, they should approach the court. Whatever the court order, we will arrange for them,” said the senior officer of Bidhannagar City Police.

Calcutta High Court on Friday asked the protesters to shift to Central Park from outside Bikash Bhavan. The bench asked the state to treat the protesters “with a human face”. It asked the municipality to build a temporary structure so the scorching heat would not affect the protesters. It also asked that drinking water facilities and bio-toilets be arranged.

An official of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said they had prepared the canopy by Sunday morning. “We also provided 10 bio-toilets by the evening. We will also provide two more bio-toilets. We will keep two water tankers of 3,000 litres each at the site. If the water gets exhausted, we will send fresh water tankers,” said an official of the civic body.

After the canopy was built, some of the protesting school employees said the footpath had weeds and tall grasses that had to be removed to enable them to sit there.

The BMC official said the civic body got a request from the police to clear the vegetation on the footpath. By the afternoon, several women had been deployed to remove the weeds and clean the stretch.

Barricades between the road and the footpath where the canopy has been built were another demand of the protesters. “The barricades will ensure our safety. There are no railings on that stretch of the footpath. If any car or bus mounts the pavement by accident, it will be disastrous. There should be barricades along that stretch of the footpath,” said a protester.

Police summons

Bidhannagar North police station on Sunday wrote to Chinmoy Mondal, the joint convener of the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum, to visit the police station on Monday in connection with the probe into the alleged violence at Bikash Bhavan on May 15.

Calcutta High Court on Friday asked police not to take any coercive action against the protesters, but also asked the protesting school employees to visit the local police station whenever they are summoned.