The Eastern Railway authorities have decided to evict unauthorised occupants from Railway land, and the families residing in the slum areas adjacent to the Burdwan Junction Railway Station have been issued notices asking them to vacate the areas shortly.

The ER authorities will kick off the eviction drive on 31 October morning, officials said. The railway authorities have also sent official communications to the district magistrate, Burdwan (East) and superintendent of police, Burdwan (East) seeking police assistance for the purpose. Two slums – Loco colony and Ambagan colony ~ on Railway land house more than 500 families and the ER authorities have earmarked these areas for eviction of encroachers.

The occupants of these slums are mostly emigrants from Bihar and Jharkhand. On 9 August, the Senior Assistant Engineer, Eastern Railway issued the notice that has recently been circulated in Burdwan and has sparked disquiet in the area. The Senior Assistant Manager’s notice for eviction (No: G/41/BWN, dated – 09.08.2019) has already been circulated to the different departments of the Railway officials in Burdwan town and has also been intimated to the district authority.

ER’s Station Manager in Burdwan, Mr Swapan Ghosh said: “We have given two months time to the unauthorised occupants to shift elsewhere as we are slated to initiate the eviction drive on 31 October this year.” The councillor of ward 5 of the now defunct Burdwan Municipality board, Mohammed Selim, said: “The ER authorities have started identification and recovery of encroached Railway land in several places and the Railway authorities have also started putting up permanent fencing to protect the land, which is followed in Burdwan too.”

He added: “As a result, more than 500 families residing in slums in my ward have accordingly been identified for eviction ahead of the Durga Pujas.” Earlier, the ER had issued similar notices but had to forgo eviction after the local civic body councillors pleaded for rehabilitation of the emigrants before eviction. The civic body meanwhile has rehabilitated some of the unauthorised occupants in some other parts of the town.

Since Burdwan Municipality’s elected board is defunct as its tenure lapsed eight months ago, a government appointed administrator is currently running the civic body and the wings of the councillors have been clipped too. “So, we cannot move on the issue further,” Selim said.