A 29-cottah plot of real estate on Prince Anwar Shah Road in south Calcutta has over 90 illegal stalls and the owners of some of them said they had set up the shops more than 30 years ago.

The government owns the land on paper but for long has no control over it.

On Monday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the land belonged to the state information and cultural affairs department but people had encroached upon it. There was an attempt to free the land of encroachers in 2018 but it was unsuccessful, she said.

Within hours of Mamata’s announcement on Monday evening, a team from Jadavpur police station went to the plot — 355 Prince Anwar Shah Road — and collected the names, addresses and phone numbers of the owners of all the stalls.

On Tuesday afternoon, a team of state government officials, accompanied by police, measured the plot.

At Monday’s meeting with heads of civic bodies, police and senior bureaucrats in Nabanna, the chief minister had said the land grabbing happened across the state while police, officials and politicians knew and aided it.

“Officials, police, all: a group has formed. Wherever there is free land, you are helping in its encroachment,” Mamata had said.

The stalls on Prince Anwar Shah Road plot include a store selling puja accessories, a momo outlet, a shack selling biriyani, a saloon, a stall making sofas and mattresses, and vegetable and fruit stalls.

A stall owner said all stalls had been razed in 2004 but were rebuilt over the last two decades.

Also tucked in between the series of stalls is an office of the Trinamool Congress’ Ward 93 unit.

Biman Bhattacharya, a Trinamool Congress worker who runs the office, said it has been there for decades. “We will not resist if the government now pulls down all structures,” he said.

The stalls owners Metro spoke with admitted that they knew the land did not belong to them but they set up their shops since the plot remained vacant for decades.

Biswanath Pramanick, who owns a saloon, said a fire had destroyed some stalls in 2018. The stall owners had received compensation from the government, he said. “Each of them received ₹15,000 to set up the stalls again,” he said.

Mousumi Das, the councillor of Ward 93, said the police visited the spot on Tuesday and would take appropriate action. “The chief minister has ordered the administration and police to take action,” she said.

One of the stall owners said they had applied for a licence when the KMC invited applications from hawkers. The licences were never issued. “We will request the government to give us an alternative space if they want to evict us from here,” he said.