The building at 14 Debendra Ganguly Road and below a grab of the earlier report in The Telegraph Howrah

Prodded by a section of Howrah citizens and a news report in The Telegraph Howrah on June 29, 2012, the state health department and the district administration sat up and took notice of the illegal occupation of the building that once housed the popular South Howrah Polyclinic. The administration is now taking steps to free the building of its illegal occupants.

The two-storey building on 18 cottahs of land, located at 14 Debendra Ganguly Road, was requisitioned by the West Bengal government in 1974 from Brajahari Roy Chowdhury, one of the oldest residents of Shibpur, for setting up a polyclinic-cum-pathological centre to provide low-cost treatment to the common man. The polyclinic-cum-pathological centre was inaugurated by the then health minister, the late Ajit Panja, in 1975. It had several departments including medicine, orthopaedics, paediatrics, gynaecology and a number of specialist doctors were on its panel, who would see patients for a minimum fee. Hundreds of people from Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas visited the clinic for treatment at affordable rates. A resident Salil Bose said: “We paid a nominal sum of Rs 5 for registering ourselves as patients and were treated by specialists for Rs 10 to 20 only.”

The polyclinic functioned till 1992 and then suddenly shut down. The building remained abandoned for a few years and then slowly it was occupied. Recently, the state health and family welfare department, in a letter to the Howrah district magistrate, directed the district administration to vacate the land. The letter, signed by the deputy secretary, Officer on Special Duty & ex-officio secretary said, ‘I am directed to refer to the subject noted above and to request you kindly to take appropriate steps towards vacating the entire land in question with the two-storied building at 14, Debendra Ganguly Road, Howrah, which is a property of the department of health and family welfare.’

The copy of the letter was also forwarded to the director of health services and ex-officio secretary, chief medical officer of health (CMOH), joint secretary (Medical Services), Department of Health and Family Welfare and senior PA to secretary (Medical Services), department of Health and Family Welfare.

With the state health department putting pressure, the district administration has no option but to speed up the process of vacating the land. “We shall remove the encroachment and hand over the property to the health department at the earliest,” said Shubhanjan Das, district magistrate, Howrah. The district health department is also preparing reports.

Salil Bose, who used to visit the polyclinic	Samir Roychowdhury, Brajahari’s grandson

I have visited the building and taken pictures from inside and outside. I have submitted these to the administration,” said Debasis Roy, chief medical officer of health, Howrah. He said that he had talked to the police and sought their help to remove the encroachment. “Since the building is in a dilapidated state, it has to be pulled down to make way for a new multi-storey building in its place and several officers of health department can be shifted there. Since it is close to Vidyasagar Setu, people can easily visit the place,” said a senior officer of the state health department. When asked what use the land and the building would be put to once they are vacated, sources in the health department said: “Since South Howrah Polyclinic was set up for treatment of the common people at subsidized rates, the health department is considering opening another such clinic under public-private participation (PPP) to enable people to get the best treatment at a minimum cost.”

The premises that once housed the South Howrah Polyclinic

The committee office of ward 40 of Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC), a private school and a tantrik with his chelas occupy the building presently. Besides, a few rooms of the building have turned into a permanent shelter for labourers of a contractor. A large number of corporation hand carts that carry garbage are also kept on the land adjacent to the building.

Now that the health department has taken initiative to utilise the land for some meaningful purpose, everybody concerned is ready to extend a helping hand. “We are ready to remove the ward committee office from the building. Though, on paper, it was a ward committee office, in practice, it functioned as the office of the former ruling party,” said new HMC mayor Rathin Chakraborty. CPM leader and former MLA from south Howrah Krishna Kishore Roy, also welcomed the move saying, “We welcome the move if the building is put to good use.”

Illegal occupation of the building

Local residents and the descendants of Brajahari Roy Chowdhury kept urging the state health department for a long time to remove the encroachment and use the land for some good purpose. “The building and the property originally belonged to our family. My grand father agreed to hand over the land and the building to the government only when he was told that the property would be used for running a polyclinic for common people. I shall be the happiest man the day the encroachment is removed and the property is handed over to the health department,” said Samir Roy Chowdhury, the grandson of Brajahari Roy Chowdhury.

The local people are also relieved that government officials are visiting the building and doing the rounds in the surrounding areas. “After dusk, the building looks like a haunted house. Only a glimmer of kerosene lamp and a cloud of smoke from cannabis can be seen from outside. It is risky walking past the house at night,” said Tilak Chakraborty, a local.