Made-to-order polycarb sheet solution for hawking zone eyesore
Times of India | 10 July 2024
12 Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is set to install designer polycarbonate sheets mounted on metal frames to act as view cutters that will camouflage the shabby rear side of hawker stalls facing roads. The polycarbonate sheets will be treated with fire-retardant chemicals to ensure safety.
“Polycarbonate sheets with patterns designed by artists will replace plastic, cloth and other materials that had turned the city’s streetscape into an eyesore,” an official in the KMC advertisement department said.“Installation of polycarbonate sheets on galvanized iron frames will start from the Gariahat hawking zone and then be done at the other major hawking hubs,” the member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC advertisement Debasis Kumar said.
The initiative comes in the wake of a CM prod, asking the Kolkata Municipal Corporation brass to cover the hawker stalls that have become eyesore, especially at Gariahat hawking hub as the rear side of these stalls are now being covered with shabby, torn clothes.
Sources in the KMC advertisement department said the civic body had adopted a pilot project for installation of designer polycarbonate sheets at the hawking hubs. “The installation process will be done in phases and at different locations. In the first phase, as part of the pilot project we have selected Gariahat hawking hub where 100 such sheets will be installed to cover the rear side of the stalls. In the next phase, we will take up more such stalls for installation,” said a civic official.
The polycarbonate sheets with galvanized iron frames will display government advertisements like road safety and civic body’s clean city drives among others.
The hawkers at Gariahat market welcomed the decision and assured that they would stand by the civic body for such an initiative. Debraj Ghosh, a hawker union leader in Gariahat said hawkers were told to remove the torn clothes and cooperate with the civic officials in installing the advertisement boards. “Replacing the torn clothes from the rear side of the hawker stalls has become a necessity. We are glad that the KMC is finally taking such an initiative. We will fully cooperate with the civic body in its endeavour so that one of the prime hawking hubs of the city doesn’t look ugly,” said Ghosh.