Kolkata: Very early on June 8, authorities unleashed an aggressive anti-encroachment drive upon traders and residents who had shops and were living in the land adjoining South Kolkata’s Jadavpur Railway Station.The exercise, which spilled into the early hours of June 8 was a joint operation by the Eastern Railway authorities, Kolkata Police, West Bengal Police (GRP), and the Central Reserve Police Forces. Around 35-40 structures abutting the station were razed. They included makeshift homes and shops. It saw chaos, physical violence, and arrests of protesters. But most crucially, for protesters, traders, and residents alike, it was the result of a number of betrayals.The site of the demolition at Jadavpur station. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.The demolition comes amidst widespread allegations of administrative betrayal, with hawker unions stating they had been given verbal assurances on June 2, by the Railway authorities, that no evictions would occur until late June. State general secretary of the Left youth body Students’ Federation of India Srijan Bhattacharya, who was arrested while opposing the action on June 8, told The Wire, “On June 2, we showed authorities the Calcutta high court verdict of 1988 against the forceful eviction of the encroachments from the Railway lands and stations without proper rehabilitation. The Railway officials asked for the certified copy of the order. It was then not available with us. Calcutta high court was to re-open on June 8, after the summer vacation. As acquiring a certified copy is time consuming, we negotiated with the Railway authorities and they agreed not to pause the demolition drive till June 29.” In 1988, the Supreme Court of India in its historic verdict in Sodan Singh vs New Delhi Municipal Committee recognised that the right to carry on trade or business on street pavements is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, provided it does not cause a nuisance or obstruct the public’s right of passage. This is not the only relevant order in this regard. In Gainda Ram v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2014 the Supreme Court ruled that the right to hawk is a fundamental right that must be regulated by a comprehensive law, effectively validating the enactment of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. The order upheld mandatory non-eviction prior to rehabilitation, declaring that no vendor could be evicted or relocated until a city-wide survey was completed and formal vending certificates/designated zones were issued under the new Act.These two orders have been frequently cited by protesters – mainly Left-led and Congress groups – as the month-old Bharatiya Janata Party government carries out demolition drives across railway stations in and around Kolkata. Also read: As the BJP Government Bulldozes Bengal’s Hawkers, Resistance Sprouts From a Likely QuarterAfter the Sunday demolition, a plea has been filed by traders who operated from Jadavpur, citing the above mentioned 1988 Calcutta high court order that prohibited the eviction of traders from railway land without providing rehabilitation in a designated commercial area. It will be heard today.The Jadavpur Station siding area. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Seeing that the Railways had agreed to hold demolitions till the court reopened, it was thus a surprise when the bulldozers arrived early on June 8. Along with Srijan Bhattacharyya, veteran Left veteran leader Sujan Chakraborty, actor Joyraj Bhattacharya, Congress leaders Ashutosh Chatterjee, Youth Congress leader Sourav Prasad, along with several student activists of the nearby Jadavpur University arrived at the scene. Protesters put up a resistance, with some lying directly in front of the advancing bulldozer and others climbing onto the machinery to halt the demolition. Security forces began an aggressive lathi charge which led to injuries.Joyraj Bhattacharya received a head injury. Sujan Chakraborty was hurt in the scuffle. Among those who were arrested along with Srijan Bhattacharyya were Tirthankar Sengupta, Arindam Bhattacharjee, Partha Seal, Suva Das and Sudam Patra. All six got bail later on the same day. Our comrades – led by Srijan Bhattacharyya and Dr. Sujan Chakraborty of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (both arrested and beaten by the police) – fought to defend the residents near Jadavpur University (Kolkata, West Bengal) who were facing the Bulldozer Raj of the new… pic.twitter.com/KwLUlvL9kb— Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) June 8, 2026Bhattacharyya noted how the authorities went back on their word. “Had our papers not been valid on June 2, why did they leave that day? By all means, they wanted to avoid the court. The case was scheduled for hearing on the 8th, but they crushed everything under the bulldozers without any negotiations early on the 8th itself. We accept that the encroachments should be removed, but not without a proper rehabilitation plan and time to the traders and the people residing there,” he said. The site of the demolition near the Jadavpur Station. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.‘Didn’t allow us to carry out our material’Jadavpur is a 164-year-old station on the Sealdah South section and acts as the definitive anchor of South Kolkata’s socio-cultural geography. Following the 1947 Partition of Bengal, the areas surrounding the station became the epicentre of an unprecedented influx of Hindu refugees fleeing erstwhile East Pakistan and now Bangladesh. Facing an apathetic state machinery with no formal rehabilitation plans, these displaced families set up home in the surrounding marshlands and abandoned military barracks. Even as Jadavpur has modernised into a prominent educational and commercial hub, the station area acts as a melting point. Various building materials including coal, sand, and stone, stone chips have been unloaded from railway wagons at Jadavpur station for years now. Traders have been selling these materials for generations. In 1988, a dispute began between the traders and the Railways over their trading lease. The Calcutta high court stated in 1988 that the traders could not be removed without making specific alternative arrangements. In 1990, the railways stopped bringing wagons to the siding (the area directly adjoining a railway station) and about 10 years later, stopped issuing receipts and also refused to renew traders’ leases. Narayan Prasad, aged 68 years, has been trading in stone chips and sand for more than 40 years now. He claimed while sitting under the shed of an old banyan tree that he lost at least Rs. 50 lakhs in the June 8 demolition. “They did not allow us to take out the sand and stone chips from our storehouses. At least 25,000 people are dependent on my business. To run each truck, at least 20 labourers are engaged. They have lost everything overnight.” Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.He, along with many other traders alleged that every month traders pay between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000 to the GRP, Railway authorities, security personnel from the Sealdah Division’s commercial department and others. The Wire has reached out to these authorities for comment on this allegation but has not heard from them. Shantanu Chowdhury, a member of the traders’ association, said, “We approached the railways multiple times, requesting them to renew our trade lease, resolve the issues, and allow us to do business through legal means. The officials showed no interest.” Chowdhury said that many of them live with their families in the siding area and have been paying electricity bills generated by the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation regularly. “If everything is illegal, how come CESC has given us electricity connection here and we are paying the bills every month?” asked Chowdhury. The livelihood of 42 traders and 3,000 contractual labourers depends on the trade of building materials at Jadavpur station, claims Mintu Dasgupta, another trader of the same area. His shop was demolished and he said he has lost Rs. 60,000. On the other hand, Railway sources claimed that traders were occupying the land and running their business without paying any money to the railways. Since the railways were earning no revenue from that land, the eviction drive was conducted to clear the encroachment. No water the next dayLocals claimed that authorities bypassed standard evacuation procedures during the drive. Residents and hawkers staying and trading in the siding area who were guarding their stalls or sleeping nearby were, in the very early hours of June 8, given a verbal ultimatum by the police: “We are providing 10 minutes to collect your belongings and leave the place.”Iron rods on the approach road. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Monday morning was no less of an ordeal. Because the area is blocked with guardrails and iron rods, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) water supply van could not enter the premises. The residents here depend on this water supply. A resident who lives in the area adjoining the station, Sumitra Rana, said, “The water tanker could not come today. They put iron rods in the main entry point to the siding area, leaving space only for a bicycle or a motorcycle to pass. Water tankers cannot come.”An elderly resident of the slum in the siding area, Kumkum Barui said her daughter is on dialysis. “Last night the police came and asked us to leave within 10 minutes. I have been living here for more than 55 years. Where should we go? What will happen to my daughter if the canola she uses for her dialysis gets infected?” she asked.‘No houses, only shops’A 24-year-old, Papiya Bhaduri said that police had initially said the demolition would not target houses but only shops. “Sunday at around 12.30 am demolition began for the structured and semi-structured stalls and kiosks. We had asked the police whether our homes would be bulldozed. They said no household will be touched,” Bhaduri said. Hearing this, the residents went back to their homes. But the assurance turned out to be false. “At around 1.45 am, some policemen came and asked us to leave our homes within 10 minutes with our belongings and important documents as demolition would start,” Shampa Karmakar, another local claimed.Empty water cans. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Several women who spoke to this reporter said that policemen issued threats to women residents, telling them they would be “picked up and taken.” The Wire has reached out to the Kolkata Police over this allegation.While many residents decried the new Bengal government’s move, one Mamani Mandal said, “I still think this change was required. But the way the government has started action without giving us any time, this is not done. Had they given us any notice to vacate the place, we would have moved out.” “They treated us like animals,” said 52-year-old Shibu Dey, who ran a small tea and snack stall near the station gates. “Ten minutes. That is what they gave us. My family has run this stall for 30 years. I begged the officers to let me pull out my refrigerator and gas cylinders. The bulldozer crushed everything into kindling in front of my eyes. How am I supposed to feed my children tomorrow?”Another resident, Shanti Ghosh described the scene similarly. “They chose midnight because they wanted to minimise public resistance. Women vendors were dragged out of the way by force, and their goods were thrown straight into municipal dump trucks. This wasn’t an urban cleanup; it was a structural assault on the working class.”The Wire has reached out to the Eastern Railways, the GRP, and to Ajay Nand, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata. This report will be updated if they respond.Anwesha Banerjee is an independent journalist.