
Illegal stall razed in Coffee House bldg
The stalls also encroached on the pavement. A month ago, Coffee House regulars spotted the wall being demolished and alerted cops, who stopped the work. A complaint was filed with KMC, which issued a stop-work notice and filed a police complaint. The building on 15, Bankim Chatterjee Street has a Grade I heritage tag as the Indian Coffee House is located there. The Graded List mentions that "no external change will be permissible" in a Grade I structure. According to locals, after Chuckervertty, Chatterjee and Co Ltd, a shop on the ground floor facing College Street, vacated the premises, the new owner began scooping out the thick walls to create space for small stalls.A civic official said the new owners did not seek KMC's permission for the work. "Any work in a Grade I heritage building requires permission from the KMC heritage conservation committee. Not only was this not sought, but the stalls that were constructed were also illegal," the official said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
HC bar on rooftop ops of two restos
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Monday restrained proprietors of two restaurants under two police stations from continuing their rooftop operations. It sent the matter back to KMC for re-verification of documents, facts and figures before proceeding with any demolition work. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Justice Gaurang Kanth directed KMC to complete re-verification in two weeks. Justice Kanth also instructed KMC to provide the petitioners with a hearing, provided there were no unauthorized constructions at the buildings in question. The court directed Bhowanipore PS and Shakespeare Sarani PS to maintain a strict vigil on the buildings. The petitioners approached the HC after KMC served a "stop-work" notice on May 5 under section 401 of the KMC Act, 1980, accusing them of violating norms. Senior counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was running the business after obtaining all necessary licences and permissions and was also paying taxes and duties. Senior counsel for KMC argued that the civic body could invoke its powers under 401 and 408 of KMC Act sections not only to stop unauthorized construction but also halt operations that went contrary to the undertaking by the petitioner while obtaining nod from KMC.


Hans India
2 days ago
- Hans India
Fresh drive to free Kolkata footpaths of vagrants
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.

The Hindu
22-07-2025
- The Hindu
Comrades bid emotional farewell to departed Naxal leader Azizul Haque
Kolkata bid an emotional farewell to deceased Naxal leader Azizul Haque on Tuesday (July 22, 2025). The veteran leader's passing marks the end of an era in radical Leftist politics of the State. He was 83 and passed away at a private city hospital on July 21. He was suffering from age-related ailments. Haque is survived by a daughter and wife. He had a son who passed away in 2003 in a road accident. Standing outside the iconic Indian Coffee House in central Kolkata's College Street, Haque's comrades, both old and young bid the stalwart leader goodbye. A poster at the gathering read 'Comrade Azizul Haque red salute'. Many of his old friends broke down as they offered flowers to the body and remembered Haque as a 'guiding light' in their political lives. Senior Leftist leaders such as Rabin Deb, Kartik Pal, Tanmoy Bhattacharya and many others were present at the farewell. 'Even though we may have differed politically, he knew how to talk to everyone and connect with people of different ideologies, he continued the necessary debates and inspired many young minds,' CPI(ML) polit bureau member Kartik Pal told The Hindu. Mr. Pal also highlighted that Haque and his fellow Naxalites helped bring change in Indian politics and put forth the rights of workers and marginalised people. 'Prominent face' 'Even after stepping back from active party politics, he continued to wield his pen and voice sharply against religious bigotry, the rise of right-wing forces, and the fascist projects of BJP-RSS combine until his final days. He was one of the most prominent faces of the 1970s Naxalbari movement in West Bengal. Long live Comrade Azizul Haque,' a statement from CPI(ML) Liberation read. Haque had suffered 18 years of incarceration after he was arrested on multiple occasions. Many of his political comrades alleged that he was tortured in police custody and suffered lifelong ailments and injuries because of the torture. Haque was one of the first Leftist leaders who was expelled from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for following his mentor Charu Mazumdar's ideology of 'bonduker nol-i, khomotar utsa' (power grows at the barrel of the gun). He co-founded the CPI(ML)'s Second Central Committee with Nishith Bhattacharya based on Mazumdar's ideologies. During their time, they had tried to establish parallel revolutionary governments in West Bengal and Bihar. The veteran leader was born in Howrah's Uluberia in 1942 and joined the Naxal movement early in life at the age of 17. He was born in an influential zamindari family but gave up his share of the land as a show of his political ideology. He was one of the faces of the Naxal uprising in the Sundarbans area and led a massive uprising against the local Pal Chowdhury zamindars of the area. After he was set free from prison for a second time in 1989, he took to writing about various social issues, including his own time in jail. He was a published author and wrote books such as Karagare Athero Bochor (Eighteen years in jail) and Naxalbari: Tirish Bochor Age Ebong Pore (Naxalbari: Thirty years before and after). A procession led by friends, admirers, many college students and comrades took the body to the Medical College, Kolkata and donated it to the government medical facility for research purposes as per Haque's wish. Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of CPI(ML), expressed his condolences over Haque's passing. 'Long years of incarceration and torture had badly impaired his health. Freed in 1989, he took to writing and championing the cause of various people's rights,' Mr. Bhattacharya wrote on X. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also offered her condolences and referred to him as a 'revolutionary and resolute leader who never bowed his head in his long political career.'