• Three-day deadline for hawkers around New Market area to fall in (yellow) line
    Times of India | 12 January 2024
  • Kolkata: Hawkers operating in the New Market area will be issued a 72-hour ultimatum on Friday to clear the roads and remain confined to a third of the pavement that has been earmarked for them.

    Announcing this after Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials and town vending committee (TVC) members held a meeting on the issue at the civic headquarters on Thursday afternoon, a TVC member said police have been asked to begin a crackdown on errant hawkers from Monday.

    Only the heavily encroached Bertram Street will be kept outside the pushback purview as civic officials fear eviction of several hundred hawkers from the area without arranging for their rehabilitation could lead to a law-and-order situation. The KMC proposes to widen the slim pavement along the New Market to allow some hawkers to take up space there. At present, three to four rows of hawkers occupy 70% of the carriageway on Bertram Street.

    The roads where police will take action include Lindsay Street, Humayun Place, Chowringhee Place, Hogg Street and Fenwick Bazar Street, all situated around New Market.

    The KMC-TVC meeting and the ultimatum came two days after the traders of markets and establishments around New Market, under an umbrella organisation called Joint Traders’ Federation (JTF), threatened to start a protest against hawkers being allowed a free run in the belt. Traders alleged their businesses had crashed as customers avoided shopping in the area due to congestion caused by hawkers and lack of parking facility as most of the parking lots had been gobbled up by hawkers.

    “We have planned to down our shutters and organize a protest march against unauthorized hawking all round New Market next week. We are ready to cooperate with the KMC if the civic body really wants to streamline hawking in the market area,” said Ashok Gupta, the president of the JTF.

    A TVC official said unions have been tasked with disciplining the hawkers. The police have been asked to carry out an announcement, warning them of eviction if they do not comply with hawking rules. At the same time, they have been asked to assure the hawkers that those who face eviction will be rehabilitated elsewhere.

    Late on Sunday night, TVC officials and policemen had drawn a yellow line on most pavements other than Bertram Street, demarcating a third of the space for hawking and leaving the rest for pedestrians.

    Since hawking will only be allowed on pavements that are over 5ft wide, some pavements, including those along Chowringhee Place and Bertram Street, will become non-vending zones. However, to accommodate hawkers on Bertram Street, the civic authority is planning to widen the pavement.
  • Link to this news (Times of India)