Bhattacharjee

Calcutta, Feb. 23: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today steered clear of the controversial decision of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to formally allow hawkers back on pavements.

“There is no change in our policy on hawkers,” he said when asked what his government’s position was on the reversal of the much-publicised Operation Sunshine that an earlier Left-led civic body had conducted to clean up the city’s pavements.

Chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said later the government did not have a policy because the jurisdiction lay with the CMC. But it is hard to see how the chief minister can be pleased with a move that runs counter to his efforts to present a city that investors find attractive.

Deb said: “They (CMC) do not require any endorsement from the state government. It is entirely their decision.”

Bhattacharjee’s statement about there being “no change in policy” was interpreted by some observers as a sign of disapproval.

That may well be true. First because of the contradiction with his intentions for Bengal. Second because when Sunshine was carried out some 10 years ago, it must have been done with the consent of the government, then headed by Jyoti Basu.

When he said “no change in policy”, Bhattacharjee could have been saying that the government stood for what it had agreed to then.

Party sources said Bhattacharjee might have decided to lie low on the return of hawkers after having had his way with industrialisation and education.

For the past few months, the CPM’s Calcutta district committee has been demanding the return or rehabilitation of hawkers. A member said Md. Nizamuddin, a former party MLA, had organised several hawker demonstrations outside the CMC.

Former RSP minister Kshiti Goswami argued that it was not that hawkers were being brought back because of the elections, but because it was in the works anyway.

Asked if this amounted to a loss of face for Bhattacharjee, Goswami said: “This is absolutely untrue. Our chief minister is trying to effect a turnaround and he is above petty things.”