West Bengal urban development minister Agnimitra Paul on Tuesday directed residents and builders to clear blocked footpaths in Salt Lake’s Ward 39 around CA Market, ordering the removal of parked vehicles, construction materials and other obstructions by the end of the day.
During an inspection, Paul confronted residents and builders who had parked vehicles or placed bricks and sand on pavements. She told them that footpaths were meant strictly for pedestrians and could not be treated as private property. “Mathay dhuklo toh? Aj rater modhyei footpath khali chai,” she said, meaning that she wanted the footpaths cleared by that night.
Paul also interacted with residents through a loudspeaker and asked when the pavements had last been cleared of garbage. Residents told her that it had been almost a week. She expressed displeasure that students were being forced to negotiate piles of waste while walking through the area.
“Footpaths can’t be encroached upon,” Paul said. She also stopped to question a motorcyclist who was removing a two-wheeler parked on the pavement, asking whether he had moved it after seeing her. She instructed him not to park vehicles on footpaths.
The minister noticed schoolchildren walking along the road with their parents instead of using the pavement. She asked them to stay on the footpath and avoid walking on the road, while also urging residents to keep the pathway clean.
Paul directed the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and the police to confiscate construction materials and commercial goods found blocking the footpaths. She also ordered that vehicles illegally parked on the pathways be impounded.
The minister warned municipal ward officers that officials found giving “silent consent” to re-encroachment, or failing to monitor areas that had been cleared, would face strict disciplinary action. The instruction places responsibility not only on users of public space but also on local officials responsible for maintaining and monitoring cleared areas.
The inspection was part of Paul’s recent focus on footpath encroachments across the city. During a series of inspections, she has repeatedly said that senior citizens, children and other pedestrians are being forced to walk on busy roads because pavements intended for them are blocked.
Paul later visited CA Market and inaugurated an eco-friendly vending machine dispensing cloth bags for ₹10 to discourage plastic use. She praised the market committee for keeping the market clean and well maintained, calling it a benchmark for other markets in Calcutta.
“Clean markets, clean roads, clean city — maintaining this is a responsibility that belongs to all of us,” she said. The immediate enforcement measures announced for Ward 39 are the confiscation of obstructions, vehicle impounding and continued monitoring by municipal officials and police.
