Malda to continue efforts to remove encroachments from govt land
Malda: Malda is to continue its efforts to remove encroachment from roads and government land till Saturday. The vending committee of the English Bazar Municipality (EBM) is also going to submit a detailed report on that day. Meanwhile, EBM, district administration and police have been removing encroachments on the roads by hawkers. Earth-movers are also being used for the eviction drives.
EBM and Old Malda Municipality (OMM) are also conducting raids in different wards of the municipality. Further, all the roads will have a demarcated place for hawkers and parking space. Multiple meetings in this regard were organised at the Collectorate building in presence of the District Magistrate and superintendent of police along with officials and heads of civic bodies. Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury, Chairman of EBM, said: “The vending committee is to survey the number of vendors, their places, testimonials if any, about loans they have taken and many things.
Their report will be submitted to DM Malda on Saturday. Till then the action as per the directive of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee against any type of encroachment will continue. We’ll again decide what to do next.” The report is meant for the possible rehabilitation of the vendors as per the policy of the state government. Each of the blocks will be looked after about this by the concerned Block Development Officers (BDO). Meanwhile, SP Malda has also sought a report on the number and locations of all the parking places of the district. The whole situation will be reassessed to formulate future plans. The Malda Chamber of Commerce in the meeting proposed the setting up of ‘hawkers zone’ in EBM. The district administration has also organised a review meeting on the Land and Land Reforms department on Tuesday afternoon where Sabina Yeasmin, minister of state for Irrigation, was furious at the department over the rise of land sharks in the district.
“Some officials are hand in glove with land sharks and making easy money. The Chief Minister has ordered to recover government land and wetlands already filled up. A report will be sent to the Chief Minister if such mal-practices continue,” cautioned Yeasmin.
