Kolkata, July 27 (IANS) The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to launch a fresh drive to free Kolkata’s roads, passenger waiting areas, and footpaths of vagrants.
A source at the KMC said on Sunday that the drive will be held in three phases in August. A letter in this regard has been sent to the Kolkata Police for its cooperation.
It has been learnt that the drive will be held on August 3, August 13, and August 23, and preparations for that have already begun.
“In this campaign, vagrants and footpath dwellers will be identified and sent to night shelters for rehabilitation purposes. Arrangements in this regard are being made,” said the KMC source.
The move is aimed at maintaining the beautification of the city. The civic body is trying to speed up the work, given the Durga Puja festival, which will be in the last week of September this year.
“The presence of vagrants in various passenger waiting areas of the city has become a source of inconvenience for the public. This time, a drive will be conducted all over the city to clean such places,” said a senior KMC official.
It has been noticed that beggars and vagrants have made a living by setting up tents and arranging their belongings under bus shelters, footpaths, or bridges in important places such as Ultadanga, Moulali, Mallik Bazar, and other places.
“In an attempt to address all such issues, a three-phase drive has been planned throughout August,” said the official.
Earlier, such a drive was held in four places in the city, from Mallik Bazar to Ballygunge Outpost, from Gariahat to Hazra crossing, Gopalnagar, Park Circus, and Beck Bagan. Although the drive achieved some success, it failed to remove vagrants from the city’s sidewalks.
–IANS
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