Adhikari meets pavement-dweller, says government arranging alternative accommodation

PTI, August 25, 2026, Kolkata: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday met the woman, who was reprimanded by a minister for warming milk on a stove for her child on a pavement here, and said his government will make an alternative dwelling arrangement for her.

Adhikari also accused the Trinamool Congress and the Left Front, which had ruled the state for about 50 years since 1977, of doing precious little for people like her, forcing them to continue living on a pavement.

The woman met Adhikari at his public grievance redressal programme Janatar Darbar.

Talking to reporters after the programme, the Chief Minister also alleged that she was offered money by the TMC to raise her voice against the BJP government.

A video of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul has gone viral, in which she was seen reprimanding a woman warming milk for her child on a pavement using a kerosene stove in the posh Park Street area of central Kolkata.

The minister, who had gone there for an inspection last week, instructed her to put out the stove and clear the pavement.

While a section of netizens and activists questioned how a minister could deprive a hungry infant of its milk, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said that it does not befit any public representative to voice hatred towards poor people.

"I am under the impression after talking to her that none of these parties (Left or TMC) offered her rehabilitation to shift from the pavement and she had to live on it. I told her we are arranging for her alternative accommodation and she will be able to shift there with her family and child," he said.