Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna at Lake Gardenns area on Friday night protesting against the eviction of illegal settlers without rehabilitation. Driving to the spot straight from the airport after arriving from Delhi, Banerjee said "It is my moral responsibility to protect the people of my constituency."
Eviction of the settlers along the railway tracks in the Lake Gardens area would begin on Saturday, Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharya said earlier in the day. In keeping with a request from Eastern Railway authorities, the state government will assist them in the eviction drive by providing police enforcements, fire tenders and ambulances, Bhattacharya said. The settlers had been given April 30 as the deadline for vacating the area but they had not indicated any desire to do so, he said.
The belligerent squatters have been agitating for the past few days against the proposed eviction with support from the Trinamool Congress which says the move is politically motivated as the area is under the parliamentary constituency of TC chief Mamata Banerjee. CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas, however, dismissed the TC allegation, saying the eviction would be conducted by the Eastern Railway authorities and not the state government. Bureau Report