Notice issued to remove houses and shops from Torsha embankment

Cooch Behar: The Irrigation Department has issued eviction notices to residents and shop owners occupying the Torsha embankment, citing structural concerns. Officials have begun distributing notices door-to-door, triggering panic among those affected.

To ease traffic congestion in Cooch Behar town, the District Irrigation Department constructed a 7.5-kilometer road along the Torsha embankment a few years ago, stretching from Harinchaora near Torhsa Bridge to Khagrabari Chowpatty.

Over time, hundreds of houses and shops have been built on both sides of the road. Authorities now claim that these structures are weakening the embankment, necessitating their removal.

According to the notice, constructing houses and shops on the embankment is a violation of regulations. It instructs occupants to remove unauthorized structures within 15 days, warning that failure to comply will result in eviction by the administration.

Sunita Roy and Sushmita Dey, residents who received the notice, expressed their distress: “We have been living here for many years. When the paved road was built earlier, parts of our houses were already affected. Now, with this new notice, we don’t know what to do.”

The embankment road runs through areas of Guriahati 2 Gram Panchayat, Harinchaora, parts of Khagrabari Gram Panchayat, and a significant portion of Cooch Behar Municipality, covering wards 16 to 19.

Addressing the situation, Cooch Behar district Trinamool Congress president and Ward 16 councillor Abhijit De Bhowmik stated, “We oppose forced evictions. We will raise this issue at the appropriate level. While we support coexistence without causing environmental harm, unchecked expansion that threatens the stability of embankments will not be allowed.”