Kolkata: During a surprise visit to Salt Lake on Tuesday, state urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul lambasted the practice of parking private vehicles on pavements and confronted those who had dumped construction materials on a footpath that blocked pedestrians’ access to a school. She expressed her discontent at schoolchildren being forced to walk on the road in absence of footpath space.The minister, who was out on an inspection of BA and CA blocks in Salt Lake as well as adjacent blocks under Ward 39 of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, instructed that the pavements be cleared by Tuesday night and that fines would be slapped if reports showed noncompliance. Paul also directed the civic authorities to repair the pavement stretch with paver blocks.“Schoolchildren are walking on the road as there is no space on the footpath. I want this entire area cleared. No children should be walking on the road. The footpath stretch has to be renovated with paver blocks,” said Paul, who was accompanied by police and municipal officials. As Paul reached the area, residents of the area complained about cars being left on pavements and building materials being piled up on footpath, leaving no space for pedestrians. The minister reprimanded violators on the spot, demanding that the pavements be cleared completely. “Why are all these materials piled up on the pavements? Were you waiting for me to arrive before removing those? I will again visit at night to check,” Paul told an individual. “Where do you stay? You have parked your vehicle on the footpath. I will not tolerate this at all,” Paul said to another resident.Paul also held ‘Mukho Mukhi’, the interactive session with citizens for the KMC area, on Tuesday. She received 38 calls with people complaining about poor road condition, illegal parking, usurpation of land and water supply shortage. “Our team is working on solving the problems,” Paul said.
