On Saturday, a day after the authorities demolished shops at Kolkata’s famous Mullick Ghat flower market, vendors tried to pick up the pieces.

It was part of an anti-encroachment drive that the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal had started in several parts of the city.

The demolition at Mullick Ghat, situated under the Howrah Bridge and dating back to the 1850s, drew a great deal of attention. Mullick Ghat is one of Kolkata’s best-known landmarks and among the country’s largest wholesale flower markets.

Every day, about 4,000 flower vendors and wholesalers do business here. On Friday, more than 200 makeshift shops built on government land were demolished, reported The Times of India.

“The objective of the drive was to reclaim public space and ensure free movement in the area,” a police officer who was part of the exercise told the newspaper. “We had informed the occupants of the illegal structures beforehand about the demolition drive and many of them had cleared out their belongings.”

Several shopkeepers said that they had been informed about the demolition drive a week before.

On Saturday, many flower sellers told Scroll about their long association with the market. One claimed that his family has been selling flowers at Mullick Ghat for over a...

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