“Where do we go?” asks Saraswati Naiya, who has spent the last 35 years selling fritters from a small stall on Jadavpur’s railway platform for 35 years. She stares at the empty space where around 40 “illegal” establishments once stood before they were demolished on June 7. More than 300 other makeshift businesses still exist on the station’s premises, and among their owners, the same question hangs in the air.

“I don’t know what I will do if the shop gets uprooted. No one will give me a job in this state. Feeding people is what I’ve done all my life. What do I do now?” asks Saraswati, who is disabled and the shop her only source of livelihood. She says she has heard nothing from the government about their plans of rehabilitation. 

Within weeks of the BJP government under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari taking office, a ‘zero tolerance’ anti-encroachment drive spread across Kolkata – Howrah, Sealdah, Dum Dum, Park Circus, Topsia, Kasba – reaching Jadavpur by early June. 

At a press conference on June 12, Adhikari said public convenience took precedence over the occupation of public land. Nobody, he said, has the right to encroach on footpaths, but stopped short of committing to rehabilitation, saying, “Hawkers can move to unused markets and spaces. I shall consider your case from a humanitarian aspect if you are sitting on vacant land,” he said, according to The Telegraph. Officials have also cited the Central government’s Amrit Bharat Scheme, aimed at redeveloping railway stations, as one reason the drive can’t wait.

According to media reports, a batch of petitions challenging railway eviction notices across Kolkata, including at Jadavpur, remains pending before the Calcutta High Court. The court has extended its interim protection against further eviction while the matter is heard by Justice Partha Sarathi Sen. The case is next scheduled to be heard on July 15. The petitions were earlier heard by Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, who sought clarification from the Railways on the procedure it intended to follow in carrying out the evictions.

According to hawker unions, the demolition drive in Jadavpur proceeded despite verbal assurances from Railway authorities on June 2 that no evictions would take place until later that month. Bulldozers arrived on the intervening night of June 7 and 8 in a joint operation by Eastern Railway, Kolkata Police, the Government Railway Police, and the Central Reserve Police Force. 

Around 35-40 structures, including makeshift homes and shops on railway land were demolished during this demolition drive, according to The Wire. There was an attempt to stop this demolition drive as several hawkers, joined by CPI(M) leaders and its trade union outfit CITU, rushed to the station around midnight. During the protests, CPI(M) leader Srijan Bhattacharya was detained by........

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