Kolkata: Less than 24 hours after a drive on Thursday led to plastic sheets being pulled down from hawker stalls along Chowringhee Road, hawkers strung up bedsheets and bed covers on Friday morning to shield themselves from the harsh sun.
Mohammed Firoz, who sells readymade garments, said cops had conducted a surprise raid and tore down plastic sheets on Thursday.“The cops and the civic officials warned us against the use of plastic sheets and the KMC may impose a penalty for using plastic. So, we have used cloth,” he said.
The move is a repeat of what had happened in Gariahat last year after plastic sheets were barred since they were inflammable and posed a threat to stalls and nearby houses after trading hours at night. In Jan 2019, the Traders Assembly building had gone up in flames after a fire that had started in a hawker’s stall in front had spread, fuelled by plastic sheets and wires that had been strung up.
Though bedsheets and bed covers replaced plastic, they attracted dust and grime, and turned into an eyesore. Thereafter, the civic body set up permanent corrugated-steel sheds on the pavement to protect hawkers’ stalls from the vagaries of nature.
On the Chowringhee pavement, too, the cloth sheets that have been strung up appeared dirty. Hawkers conceded as much but said they needed to protect themselves and their wares from the sun. A section of hawkers demanded KMC set up corrugated-steel sheds on JL Nehru Road like it had done at other shopping hubs, like Gariahat and Hatibagan.
A KMC official said there was no plan to set up such sheds in Chowringhee, a heritage zone. The official said a vigil will be maintained in the New Market-Esplanade hawking hub to prevent return of plastic but could offer no alternative to the dirty cloth covers. “On several occasions it has been found that though we have removed plastic from some hawking hubs, they returned after a point of time. So, we need to keep watch along with the cops,” the official said.
Debasish Das, member of the to-wn vending committee and a hawkers’ union leader, said hawkers in the Esplanade-New Market-Chowri-nghee belt were warned against using plastic as it was banned under hawking rules. “We won’t protect those who flout rules,” Das said.