• Tuesday, 4pm: A pavement along Chowringhee Place does not have place for two persons to walk alongside; hawkers occupy almost all of it.
• Tuesday, 5.30pm: The pavement is free — of all encroachments and for pedestrian movement. Police holler directions and a minitruck takes the wares away.

The pavement stretching between the now-closed Roxy cinema and Chowringhee Road, north of Oberoi Grand, witnessed a dramatic 90 minutes on Tuesday.

A team from New Market police station evicted the hawkers from the 50m stretch with a firmness that is rare.

“Aaj se yahaan pe maal nahi rahega. Kahan jaoge, kya karoge iye sab mujhe nahi pata. Mujhe pata hai ke ajse yahan pe maal nahi rahega (From today, your wares will not remain here. I don’t know where you will go or what you will do. All I know is that nothing will remain on the pavement),” an officer told a hawker who tried to plead helplessness.

The spring in the police step followed an angry outburst by the chief minister on Monday.

“There is a video of how much of the pavements along roads in Calcutta have been encroached on. Despite this, every new OC (officer in charge) allows new encroachments,” Mamata Banerjee had said.

A team from New Market police station arrived at Chowringhee Place shortly before 4.30pm on Tuesday.

An officer asked the hawkers to pack up and leave.

More than a dozen hawkers would occupy the pavement. They would sell clothes, shoes, socks, toys and other stuff.

Some of them tried to reason with the cops, who would have none of it. By 5pm, the hawkers were done packing their stuff.

A minitruck pulled over soon. The packed stuff was loaded on the truck. By 5.30pm, the vehicle left the spot.

“The stuff is being taken to New Market police station,” said a cop.

The hawkers said the “police excess” was uncalled for.

They pointed to the yellow line on the pavement, drawn last year to demarcate space for pedestrians. Hawkers have to stay within a third of the width of a pavement, leaving the remaining space free for pedestrians.

“The line was drawn under the supervision of the town vending committee. We were told that we could continue doing business by staying behind the line,” said Mohammed Alam.

People who have permanent tax-paying shops in the vicinity alleged that the hawkers would never stick to the yellow line.