Bulldozers continued to work their way to clear encroachments in at least three civic bodies across Bengal despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee deciding to put the drive “on hold” for a month following a meeting with hawkers’ union on Thursday.

The civic bodies of Mirik in Darjeeling district, Bolpur in Birbhum and Taki in North 24-Parganas continued the drive on Friday.

“Turning people’s livelihoods to dust by bringing in bulldozers is not in our culture,” Mamata had said on Thursday.

The chief minister had added that the eviction drive would be put on hold for a month and a proper rehabilitation process worked out.

On Friday, the civic chairpersons of Mirik and Bolpur said they were not evicting hawkers but demolishing illegal structures and hence their action did not flout the chief minister’s directive.

The Taki civic authorities maintained their drive was a “tactical move” to keep the hawkers under pressure so that they apply for a rehabilitation package.

In Mirik, situated about 40km from Darjeeling town, the civic authorities demolished two taxi syndicate counters and a shop around the famous Mirik Lake at Krishnanagar on Friday morning.

The drivers attached with the taxi syndicate did not protest.

“The civic body is planning to beautify the area and we support the move. Also, the civic chairman has assured us a piece of land to set up our office within the next few days,” said a driver.

Evictions are rare in Darjeeling even though the people have been voicing the need for it through various platforms, including social media.

L.B. Rai, chairman of Mirik municipality, said: “We had issued notices to these structures as they had come up on government land. We had given them a seven-day deadline, which expired today (Friday), and the encroachers had also emptied their structures. This is why we demolished the structures.”

Rai said the eviction from government land would be “a continuous process”.

While the Mirik drive was conducted without any protest, traders in Bolpur pointed out that the drive continued despite Mamata’s directive. “We received the eviction notice only yesterday (Thursday) evening,” a trader complained.

The Bolpur municipality used two bulldozers to clear a 1.5km stretch of the footpath on either side of Bolpur-Santiniketan Road by demolishing all makeshift and temporary constructions within four hours on Friday morning.

Parna Ghosh, chairperson of Bolpur municipality, claimed that they did not evict the hawkers but demolished the illegal constructions encroaching on the footpath and creating problems for pedestrians.

“We did not evict the hawkers. We demolished the illegal structures that the local traders had extended beyond their shops or outlets. Our move is in line with the instruction that our chief minister had conveyed to us during the June 24 meeting,” said Ghosh.

The Bolpur civic head added that they would continue with the eviction drive on Saturday to clear the road approaching the Visva-Bharati campus.

The Taki civic administration launched the drive in different streets of the town. The team evicted around 50 hawkers from the Banbibi Bridge and Hasnabad bus stand areas of the town.

A JCB engaged by the Mirik Municipality demolishes an illegal constraction at Krishna Nagar at Mirik on Friday. Passang Yolmo

The chairman of Taki municipality, Somnath Mukhopadhyay, issued a 72-hour deadline to hawkers who have encroached upon footpaths and roads to shift their stalls and warned of “stringent actions” from Monday.

Mukhopadhyay also directed the hawkers to submit application forms for rehabilitation.

“As announced by our chief minister Mamata Banerjee we will give a cash amount of ₹10,000 and a trolley so that they make a living,” Mukhopadhyay said.

Asked why the Taki administration was carrying on with the drive despite the chief minister’s directive, Mukhopadhyay said it was “tactical move” to put pressure on hawkers to apply for rehabilitation.

Mukhopadhyay said the civic body had earlier issued orders offering a rehabilitation package and had also set a deadline to shift their stalls.

“However, we received little response then. This eviction drive is also part of the strategy to put pressure on hawkers to submit application forms for rehabilition… the chief minister’s words are like law to us,” the chairperson told this newspaper.

The Taki civic head added that their prime objective was to clear the road adjacent to the Ichhamati river bank that was recently beautified and was a major tourist attraction.

Additional reporting by Subhasish Chaudhuri in Calcutta