With a platform,and more,CITU well on track in Bengal

Samir Goswami,Chief Public Relations Officer,Eastern Railway,is almost apologetic when he said,We have discussed the issue several times. The Eastern Railway wants to clear the platforms and it is necessary to clean the stations. But the problem has a social angle and so,the police might have some reservation in forcibly evicting unlicensed stalls.

Take the case of Dum Dum,one of the busiest stations in the Sealdah North Suburban section,a terminal station from where the Metro Railway operates its services. According to railway official sources,the station should have only six stalls approved by the authority. But countless temporary structures,mostly wooden,dot the platform. According to an estimate by the union itself,there are 140 stalls on the station and on railway land that operate everyday vending a variety of goods.

The scene is repeated in almost all the railway stations across the state. According to the CITUs own estimates,it controls 18,000 stalls on railway platforms and 42,000 railway hawkers. Each stall and each vendor has to pay a certain amount to the CITU for smooth running of his or her business. Every station has a CITU union office with a local strongman acting as the leader.

A shop owner at Dum Dum station,Amit Santra,tells the story about how he got his tea stall. Amit is running a tea stall on platform number one for the last four years. He had contacted the CITU secretary and was allotted a 4ftx4ft space and with 6ft height. For this,he had to reportedly pay Rs 15,000 to the leader before he got possession of the land. Now,Amit regularly pays rent to the CITU at the rate of Rs 200 per month. If anyone wants a stall on Dum Dum platform,he has to contact CITUs Satyen Purkait,who reportedly controls platform spaces from Dum Dum in North Suburban section to Majherhat in South Suburban section.

When contacted,Purkait charged: Who told you we are charging rent and other fees from the hawkers? We only collect monthly donations from them and that is a very small amount.

Dum Dum station has a CITU office. On platform number one stands a 14ftx6ft brick and mortar room,built allegedly by the CPI(M) cadres on whats clearly railway property. Furnished with a television,chairs and a table,plus the portraits of Marxist leaders,the room is CITUs office. Facing the platform stands another room,which is the office of the CITU-affiliated Railway Mazdoor Union. Both the rooms double up as rest-rooms for the leaders of the hawkers unions. Such structures with red flags and CITU emblem are visible in every station across the state.

At the backyard of every station,there is a power room with a generator that starts working in the evening. As the railway authorities have denied power connection to these illegal stalls,an alternative power supply source has been set up and is reportedly managed by local CITU leaders.

In Sodepur station,for instance,one generator supplies power to 85 stalls. In Belghoria station,one generator supplies power to 93 stalls. Each stall owner has to allegedly pay the CITU every month for the power he uses.

Nepaldeb Bhattacharya,secretary of the union and Left leader,said instances of the CITU taking money from hawkers and stall owners are rare. Give me the names and I shall expel them from the CITU, he said. But Bhattacharya seems far removed from reality. The killings on Tuesday night showed how bitter the animosity could be when the authority of the CITU is challenged by its rivals,more so when the rivals are those who once belonged to the same fold.