Kolkata: A 60-year-old Free School Street pavement dweller on Saturday unknowingly triggered a political row when asked to move off the pavement by state urban development minister Agnimitra Paul during an anti-encroachment drive, to which she replied she was boiling milk for her grandson.Videos widely circulated on social media showed Paul questioning Sita Mullick as she heated milk on a stove on the pavement. A small child was nearby. Paul asked her who had given them the right to “set up a household” on a footpath.A poem written by Srijato that asks who bears the cost of deprivation was widely shared and discussed on social media.Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh visited the spot on Sunday and spoke to Mullick and her family. “We all want a free footpath for pedestrians. However, there should be a humanitarian face. Poor people do not stay outdoors out of choice,” he said.Speaking to reporters in Asansol on Sunday, Paul said: “They were told earlier as well, ‘do not stay here, go home’. She (Sita) herself told me she has a house in Dhapa. Who gave you the right to boil milk on the footpath, and that too by lighting a stove? You are inviting danger for yourself, and also for pedestrians.”The minister added, “A bowl of milk cannot be consumed by a six-month-old; it was certainly not for the child. Opposition is saying ‘a child’s milk was being boiled and you are speaking like this’. Even if it was khichdi, I would have said it, if it was pakoda, I would have said it. A six-month-old is crawling on the footpath next to a busy road like Free School Street. If an accident were to happen today, opposition would tear the govt into shreds.”“These obstacles are being created by Trinamool and CPM. A mother is bringing her child back from school, walking along the road (due to encroached pavements), and an accident occurs. In Bengal, the highest number of deaths takes place due to accidents. When we try to speak up, we become bad. What are we supposed to do,” she asked.When TOI visited the family, Mullick and her two daughters appeared reluctant to speak and stayed away from the spot of Saturday’s confrontation. Their utensils were neatly stacked against an iron staircase outside a closed shop.“My mother grew up here and we were born right there,” said Puja Biswas, Mullick’s elder daughter.“Madam came from nowhere and started asking questions. There were police and officers. I was very scared. She asked me why I was boiling milk on the footpath. I told her it was for my grandson,” Mullick said. She also alleged that the minister asked whether she was a Bangladeshi. “I said no,” she added.
