Salt Lake pavement encroachments will be cleared after state urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul ordered action during a surprise inspection of the area on Tuesday, following complaints that parked vehicles and construction materials were forcing schoolchildren to walk on the road.
Paul inspected BA and CA blocks in Salt Lake and adjoining areas under Ward 39 of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, accompanied by police and municipal officials. She directed that the affected pavements be cleared by Tuesday night and warned that fines would be imposed if the encroachments remained.
The minister also instructed civic authorities to repair the damaged pavement stretch with paver blocks. The immediate focus was an area near a school where construction materials had been placed on the footpath, leaving pedestrians without a clear walking route.
“Schoolchildren are walking on the road as there is no space on the footpath. I want this entire area cleared. No children should be walking on the road. The footpath stretch has to be renovated with paver blocks,” Paul said, according to the report.
Residents told the minister that private vehicles were routinely being parked on pavements and that building materials had been stacked on footpaths. Paul confronted individuals at the site and demanded that the obstructions be removed completely.
“Why are all these materials piled up on the pavements? Were you waiting for me to arrive before removing those? I will again visit at night to check,” Paul told one individual, as reported by The Times of India. She also reprimanded another resident for parking a vehicle on the footpath and said she would not tolerate the practice.
The inspection places pedestrian access, rather than only pavement maintenance, at the centre of the civic response. When footpaths are occupied by vehicles or construction supplies, people are pushed into moving traffic, with children and other vulnerable pedestrians facing the greatest exposure. In this case, the obstruction was reported to have affected access around a school.
The minister’s directions also link enforcement with physical repair. Clearing an encroachment may restore temporary access, but the pavement will require renovation with paver blocks to provide a usable walking surface, according to the instruction issued during the inspection. The report does not specify the length of the stretch, the number of vehicles or properties involved, or the proposed value and completion date of the repair work.
Paul also held a ‘Mukho Mukhi’ interactive session with citizens for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area on Tuesday. She received 38 calls covering poor road conditions, illegal parking, alleged land usurpation and water supply shortages. “Our team is working on solving the problems,” she said.
The next stated steps are the removal of the reported pavement obstructions, possible fines for non-compliance and the repair of the affected stretch with paver blocks. Paul also said she would revisit the area at night to check whether the directions had been followed.
