Stretches of pavements below the elevated East-West Metro viaduct in Salt Lake have started resembling garbage dumps as shops dealing in scrap materials ranging from pet bottles to used furniture have come up on them.
The stretch from Mayukh Bhavan to the City Centre crossing has at least half a dozen such stalls that pileup empty cardboard cartons, plastic bottles, bambooshafts, used furniture and scrapped motorcycle parts on the pavements, rendering them inaccessible for pedestrians.
One such shop has been set up beside Central Park’s main gate, diagonally opposite Bikash Bhavan, which nearly blocks access to the park that is considered to be the lungs of the township.
Near City Centre, there are at least a couple of such shops that deal in scrap. While one is located opposite the CGO Complex, another is near the office of the West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation.
Many such shops have also cropped up adjacent to tank number 12 near EE and FF Block, and inside the Karunamoyee Housing Complex in ED Block.
A man who has such a shop below the Metro corridor, near City Centre, said he had been dealing in scrap on the pavement for the past eight months. He said he chose the spot because it was close to where he lives.
“The pavement was wide enough for me to stack up all the stuff and the place is also on the main road so it is easy to load items onto trucks from here,” he said.
He lives in a single-room tenement near the back gate of the Salt Lake sub-divisional hospital.
A senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said no major eviction drive has been conducted since 2019.
“We have not conducted any major eviction drive since 2019. Taking advantage of this, many new stalls, including those dealing in scrap, are mushrooming everywhere,” said the official.
Roshni Sinha Roy, a resident of IB Block, who takes her son to swimming classes to the Bidhannagar Municipal Sports Complex, opposite Mayukh Bhavan, said every morning trucks visit the scrap traders to buy scrap from them.
“Most of these trucks belch out clouds of smoke and are driven quite rashly as the roads are empty in the morning. These shops not only take up the pavements making it impossible for us to walk but they also park their vans here on the road, further creating obstacles for us,” said Roy.
A senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said they had not received any complaints from residents.
“We will look into the matter and take action,” the official said.
