Police evict hawkers, reclaim parking lots in New Market zone
Times of India | 5 March 2025
123 Kolkata: Car parking lots were reclaimed by cops in and around New Market on Tuesday morning as they evicted hawkers from the carriageway to vacate space for shoppers to park their cars. The police drive came a day after Hawker Sangram Comittee, the largest hawker union, announced its plans to launch an agitation before the New Market police station for its inaction against hawkers occupying the carriageway in the belt.
On Tuesday morning, a posse of policemen from New Market PS pushed back hawkers from the blacktop on Bertram Street, Humayun Place and Lindsay Street, freeing up precious car parking space. Shopkeepers and traders in the heritage New Market and other markets in the vicinity have been crying hoarse about the encroachment of parking lots that had forced shoppers to abandon the market.
When a section of hawkers returned to a portion of Bertram Street in the late afternoon, cops were posted at the intersection of Bertram Street and Humayun Place to keep them at bay. "We can't allow hawkers to grab carriageways. But then we don't want to apply force and instead will continue with our vigil to scare away a section of desperate hawkers who want to flout rules and eat into the carriageway space," said a cop on duty at Humayun Place.
According to a parking attendant on Humayun Place, the cops' drive enabled them to accommodate several cars in the designated parking space that vanished due to encroachment. "I was asked to shift from Humayun Place to another parking space as I had no work here because the designated parking space was gobbled up by the hawkers. Now, space has once again surfaced. But I don't know how long the road will remain encroachment-free," he said.
A survey by a TOI team on Tuesday evening found that although a major part of Bertram Street was made encroachment-free, parts of the carriageway were encroached by hawkers. Worse, large numbers of floating hawkers were seen doing business in the middle of Bertram Street.
According to Saktiman Ghosh, the general secretary of the Hawker Sangram Committee and a member of the Town Vending Committee, instead of playing hide and seek with the hawkers, the cops should strictly enforce the vending rules that don't allow hawking on carriageways.
SS Hogg Market Joint Secretary Ashraf Ali complained that the parking space for two-wheelers in front of the KMC headquarters was being grabbed by hawkers.
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