The Times of India 19.08.2009
Cops, KMC to make city cleaner
KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Kolkata Police have joined hands to give citizens an encroachment-free city. Police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti met mayor Bikash Bhattacharya and municipal commissioner Arnab Roy at the KMC headquarters on Tuesday to chalk out a detailed plan for a joint drive.
Bhattacharya said a combined force would demolish all unauthorised stalls on pavements, remove ragpickers from major thoroughfares and raid markets to seize banned plastic bags. "We will undertake a drive against unauthorised construction as well as ragpickers who set up makeshift settlements next to thoroughfares. Our team will also raid municipal and private markets and seize plastic bags below 40 microns," he said. The objective of the drive, the mayor asserted, was to give Kolkata a cleaner look.
According to KMC sources, campaigns against illegal encroachment would begin in the central business district ( CBD).
"We will remove encroachments from CBD areas such as BBD Bag, Esplanade, Park Street, Camac Street and Jahawarlal Nehru Road, among other places. Then, we will move to highly-encroached areas such as Hatibagan, Park Circus, Gariahat, Behala, Garden Reach and others," a senior KMC official said.
Sources said the decision to crack down on unauthorised stalls was taken after a series of meetings failed to yield any results.
