The belongings of settlers staying on a pavement at Ballygunge Phari were removed on Friday in a drive conducted by police and civic officials.

Overhead tarpaulin sheets, at least one cot, clothes and plastic waste were among the items that were removed.

Similar drives were conducted earlier, too, but the footpath dwellers brought back their belongings within weeks, said a resident.

The encroachment had resulted in a bus stop remaining unused for months with commuters standing on the road at the busy intersection.

Across Calcutta, the width of the pavements is shrinking by the day as new spaces are being gobbled up by hawkers or new settlers.

Park Circus, Ballygunge Phari, Gariahat, New Market, Hatibagan — everywhere pedestrians are being pushed out from new stretches of pavements.

One of the footpath dwellers at Ballygunge Phari said officials from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) had earlier asked them to move to a shelter for the homeless at Kalighat.

They rejected the proposal because the officials said the pavement dwellers could only spend the night at the Kalighat shelter. For the rest of the day, they must stay outside, said a woman.

Residents were unhappy with the way the pavement was being taken away yard by yard.

“The entire pavement has been taken up by people living there, the hawkers’ stalls
and the items stacked in the green verge and on the pavement,” said Sandip Ganguly, a resident.

A restaurant, a bank and a bus stop are along the stretch where the drive was carried out on Friday.

“Such raids happened earlier, too. The people living on the pavement stack their stuff outside our restaurant. The customers complain about how the pavement outside is being taken away,” said an employee at Kwality, the restaurant at the Ballygunge Phari intersection.

Following Friday morning’s drive, the pavement dwellers were worried about their future. “How will we survive the winter? They took away the cot, our clothes, utensils and even some identity cards,” said Raju Goswami, a footpath dweller.

A woman seated next to Goswami said that during similar drives earlier, KMC officials had asked them to vacate the pavement and shift to a shelter for the homeless in Kalighat.

“We were told that we would only be allowed to stay at the shelter at night. For the entire day, we had to stay outside. How can we shift under such conditions?” she asked.

“We do odd jobs here. Who would pay for the daily commute between Kalighat and Ballygunge Phari? We would also not be allowed to cook at the shelter. We will not go to Kalighat,” said the woman.

A KMC official denied the woman’s allegations.

A new unit has been added at the Kalighat shelter recently and there is space for 60
people there, he said. “There is no rule that a shelter’s inmates can stay there only at night. They can also cook in the shelter,” the KMC official said.

Another KMC official said eviction drives are undertaken every few months because the pavement dwellers take over the freed space again.

“On Friday, drives were conducted at Ballygunge and Park Circus,” said the official.

A large police team accompanied a squad from the KMC during Friday’s drive. “We accompanied the KMC team to prevent any trouble and maintain law and order,” said an officer at Gariahat police station.