First 2 phases of KMC survey find 11,527 hawkers in Kol vending hubs
Times of India | 1 August 2024
Kolkata: After registering 11,527 hawkers in the first two phases of the survey, which included prime hawking zones like Gariahat, New Market, Hatibagan, Chandni Chowk, College Street, Sealdah, Bowbazar, S N Banerjee Road and Lenin Sarani, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has set up a team of surveyors with over 600 members for the third phase across the rest of the city.
According to a KMC official, a report based on the findings of the third phase will be submitted to the office of chief minister Mamata Banerjee for detailed discussion on the status of hawking in the city. Mayor Firhad Hakim said several major thoroughfares had been surveyed by the KMC team. “We are waiting for the survey in the rest of the city before submitting a rep-ort to Nabanna,” said Hakim.
Town vending committee (TVC) members who held a meeting on Wednesday approved the phase III and said surveyors need to wrap up in the next two weeks.
TVC co-chairman Debasis Kumar said the survey would begin on Thursday. “We have set up 112 teams to conduct surveys in lanes and bylanes across 144 wards. This apart, some of the major hawking hubs that were not covered under the first two phases will be included now. We hope to conclude the survey in the next two weeks,” Kumar said.
According to a KMC official, around 400 civic workers were roped in to form survey teams that visited the major hawking hubs in the first two phases of the survey. Sources in the KMC said the civic employees were trained on the mode and necessary parameters to carry out the work. “We have asked them to go by the hawking rules and note down the nature of the encroachment — either on the carriageways or on the pavements. The surveyors will need to take photographs of the position of the hawkers and ask them to produce their Aadhaar cards for registration as genuine hawkers,” said a KMC official.
Hawker union leaders said the survey was necessary to locate the bona fide hawkers in the congested hubs. “We want to ensure that genuine hawkers are not ousted and, at the same time, we won’t encourage grabbing of carriageways or fresh encroachment of pavements,” said Hawker Sangram Committee president Saktiman Ghosh.