By Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay
West Bengal’s eviction drive has displaced thousands of residents and hawkers, highlighting the human cost of demolitions. This documentary examines rehabilitation, due process, housing rights, and the politics behind the bulldozers.
Across West Bengal, a sweeping eviction drive has left thousands of families without homes or livelihoods. Slums, railway colonies, and hawker stalls have been demolished in the name of clearing encroachments, leaving behind shattered homes, uncertain futures, and a growing political controversy.
From Habra’s No. 3 Railway Colony to Dhakuria and Dumdum railway station, residents and hawkers say they were given little or no time to prepare before bulldozers arrived. While authorities maintain the demolitions target illegal encroachments, those affected are demanding rehabilitation, citing generations of residence and decades of earning a living from these spaces.
This Frontline Perspectives examines the human cost of the eviction drive, the challenges of rebuilding lives after demolition, and the questions it raises about rehabilitation, due process, and the growing debate over “bulldozer politics” in West Bengal.
This story was originally published in frontline.thehindu.com. Read the full story here.
