West Bengal: Security pared back in Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat

KOLKATA: Once heavily guarded Kalighat neighbourhood has begun resembling a throughfare and even a theatre for political violence in some pockets as authorities dismantle security paraphernalia like police kiosks from the area where outgoing CM Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee reside, a drawdown described by some residents as unsettling and others as a relief. On Wednesday, police began withdrawing peripheral security arrangements from key addresses linked to the Trinamool brass. Beginning around 6.30 am, barricades, police kiosks, scanner machines and surveillance installations were dismantled across locations, including at three premises of Abhishek Banerjee at 188B, Harish Mukherjee Road, 121, Kalighat Road and 9, Camac Street. At his Harish Mukherjee Road home, ‘Shantiniketan’, police were seen removing layers of security infrastructure that had, over the past decade, turned the premises into one of the most tightly guarded political addresses in the state. The move followed a similar rollback outside Mamata Banerjee’s residence a day earlier, shortly after the electoral outcome. Officials said both leaders continue to enjoy Z-plus security, and that the current exercise pertains only to peripheral deployment and publicly installed infrastructure. As for the other residents of the area, some felt it was “unsettling” while others expressed relief at the dismantling of long-standing restrictions.