The Howrah Municipal Corporation demolished a party office linked to former Trinamool Congress MLA Gautam Chowdhury in Golabari on Tuesday, saying the structure had been built illegally along the Ganga and that a notice had previously been issued over the construction.
The office stood on Shalkia School Road in North Howrah. According to the municipal authorities, the building had been constructed by encroaching on land beside the river. The corporation used a bulldozer to remove the structure after declaring it illegal and serving notice, the Bengali-language report by Sangbad Pratidin said.
The action places riverfront land use and municipal enforcement at the centre of a political dispute in Howrah. Chowdhury is a former North Howrah legislator and former president of the Trinamool Congress’s Howrah district unit. The report did not provide details of the municipal notice, including its date, the legal provision used or the ownership status of the land.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from North Howrah and Minister of State for the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department, Umesh Rai, welcomed the demolition. Rai alleged that the Trinamool Congress had occupied port land beside the Ganga to build the office. The report attributed the land-occupation claim to Rai; it did not include an independent document establishing the ownership or status of the site.
Rai also alleged that the premises had become a place where alcohol and cannabis were consumed and that residents had repeatedly complained to the municipality about alleged anti-social activities. These allegations were not independently substantiated in the report. Chowdhury was contacted for a response but declined to comment on the demolition and the allegations.
The demolition follows another enforcement action in Howrah district. On Monday night, the district administration removed several shops described in the report as illegal structures along the Howrah-Amta Road at Salap in Domjur. A large police contingent and the Rapid Action Force were present during that operation, according to the report.
The two actions indicate a wider enforcement drive against structures described by the authorities as unauthorised and located along transport corridors or public land. However, the supplied report does not establish whether the demolitions form part of a single officially announced campaign, nor does it provide the number of structures removed, the rehabilitation arrangements for affected occupants or details of any appeal process.
For Howrah, the immediate issue is not only the removal of one political office but also how municipal authorities identify, notify and clear allegedly unauthorised construction in high-pressure urban areas. Riverfront land, road margins and transport-linked sites often carry competing claims involving public access, commercial activity, political use and administrative control. The report establishes the latest demolition but does not set out the broader policy or enforcement framework governing such sites.
The Howrah Municipal Corporation’s stated position is that the party office was an illegal construction and that notice had been served before demolition. The next public record to watch is the corporation’s formal notice or order, which could clarify the legal basis of the action, the land-owning authority and whether further removals are planned in the area.
