Shopper count dips at Gariahat, Hatibagan on 1st Sunday after hawker pushback drive in Kolkata
Times of India | 2 July 2024
KOLKATA: Shoppers' crowds at Hatibagan and Gariahat seemed to be thinner than usual on Sunday, the first weekend since the hawker pushback drive was launched by the KMC and police.
TOI visited both the shopping hubs to find most hawkers maintaining the rules. Stalls were pushed back to one-third of the pavements, leaving two-third space for pedestrians.A few hawkers, who had set up stalls on the carriageway between the Hatibagan crossing and Town School, were removed by police in the afternoon. Disappointed with the low turnout of customers on a Sunday, Uttam Biswas, a hawker at Hatibagan, said, "Many are not visiting the market as they are aware of the police raids. Low footfall has adversely affected our business. We are requesting the administration to allow us to do business here." A few stalls were shut.
But the shoppers who did visit Hatibagan on Sunday were happy. A blue line has been drawn along the road at Hatibagan to designate KMC's parking zone. Relieved to get a parking space, which would earlier be occupied by hawkers, Iman Chowdhury, a shopper, said, "Earlier, it was a challenge to walk or park on this stretch. But on Sunday, I found enough space to walk down the pavement. I could park my car without any hassle."
In the afternoon, police made announcements, informing the hawkers at Hatibagan about a KMC survey that would be conducted on Monday. The sellers were asked to keep their Aadhaar card, voter's ID card and PAN cards ready to show the survey team. A similar one will be held at Gariahat, too, which will be the second such exercise in the south Kolkata shopping hub. Prabhat Das, a hawker at Hatibagan, said, "There are around 440 hawkers in this market. We are following the instructions from KMC and police. The survey will start from Monday, for which we will submit our ID proof documents."
At Gariahat, too, hawkers complained about a low turnout of shoppers, especially for a Sunday. Suman Saha, joint secretary of Gariahat Indira Hawkers' Union, rued, "We are doing business without occupying the pedestrians' space but there is hardly any buyer today. Our business is getting badly affected because of the KMC-police campaign."
KMC had conducted a survey last Thursday, when the civic ream had checked the ID documents of 100 hawkers. "The second survey will be carried out on Monday," said Saha. "There are around 3,600 hawkers in Gariahat. We urge the authorities that all of them be allowed to do business and that their livelihood should not be affected."
(With inputs by Poulami Roy Banerjee, Suparna Goswami and Debobrata Shome)