siliguri: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) conducted an eviction drive in front of the Siliguri District Hospital. On Tuesday morning, the SMC workers backed by the police of Siliguri Police Station removed all the illegal shops from the surrounding areas of the hospital.
“The area of the hospital should be clear. No illegal encroachment will be tolerated,” said Gautam Deb, Mayor of SMC.For a very long time, many vendors have illegally encroached upon the footpaths near the Siliguri District Hospital.
They had built makeshift stalls in front of the entry gate of the hospital. Many food stalls had sprung up where food items were cooked using domestic LPG gas cylinders without any fire safety.
This had emerged as a major problem and risk for the hospital. The entire area had become congested thereby causing obstacles to the movement of emergency vehicles like ambulances.
The Mayor had already issued instructions to remove the encroachers from the area. Accordingly, the SMC workers had conducted a raid a few days ago. They were shifted out but returned soon after the raid.
On Tuesday, the SMC workers and police removed all the stalls from the area.
They warned the vendors not to set up stalls here again. “If they disobey, legal action will be initiated,” warned an SMC official.