At least 14 people, including four RPF personnel, were injured in a clash during a hawker eviction drive at Kalyani station in Sealdaha Main section today.
The UP Shantipur, DN Ranaghat and Kalyani Simanta locals were stranded at Kalyani Station for over two hours in this connection, Railway sources said.
The RPF resorted to lathi charge, after a section of hawkers turned violent during the eviction drive, an RPF official said.
While four RPF men were hurt in stone pelting by the hawkers, ten others - five hawkers and some by-standers - were hurt in the melee, the official said.
Two of the injured were taken to Kalyani JNM Hospital.
The incident followed a notification issued days ago for eviction of hawkers which triggered tension in the station area.
As RPF personnel upturned three stalls on platform no 2, the hawkers turned violent and even blocked the tracks at around 1 pm leading to the clash inconveniencing thousands of commuters as three local trains were stranded at the station.
The situation was brought to normal and the blockade, lifted around 4 pm after talks between local Trinamool Congress leaders, hawkers association, and the railway authorities.
