Scuffle, human chain as hawkers block New Market entrance
Times of India | 20 March 2025
1234 Kolkata: Trouble erupted near the entrance to the bakery range at New Market on Wednesday with traders protesting against semi-permanent stalls, with tarpaulin canopies, which had been erected on the two-wheeler parking area. Several stalls have also come up on the road outside, ahead of Eid ul-Fitr.
Incensed by the encroachment on the parking lot and partial blocking of Gate No. 15, New Market traders laid siege to Hogg Street to protest against the growing hawker menace and rampant encroachment on the streets around the heritage market. The agitation continued for over 45 minutes, during which a scuffle broke out with hawkers.
The traders finally left after the New Market superintendent and a sergeant from the KMC reached the spot and assured them of taking up the matter with the higher-ups in the civic market department.
An official from the market department said a trader, who ran a shop near the bakery range, had objected to two semi-permanent stalls being set up by new hawkers. With other hawkers also encroaching on the gate, the trader had complained their stalls made it almost impossible for shoppers to even spot the entrance. The other traders joined him in his demand to clear the gate of the hawkers.
This, said the official, stoked tensions as the hawkers refused to move out and called a senior hawker union leader. The traders then formed a human chain and blocked Hogg Street. They even served a 24-hour ultimatum to the market superintendent to clear hawker encroachment from the gates. Otherwise, the traders threatened, they would intensify the agitation.
SS Hogg Market Traders' Association secretary Uday Sahoo complained of dwindling business during the Ramzan month because of encroachments by hawkers. "Every inch of the space is being gobbled up by new hawkers. This encroachment is taking place under the nose of civic officials and police. We are at the receiving end of poor business as shoppers hesitate to enter the market through the sea of vendors and their stalls," said Sahoo. He added traders would take to the streets if action was not taken to check encroachers.
Hawker Sangram Committee general secretary and town vending committee member Saktiman Ghosh conceded the encroachment situation at New Market had turned grave. "Time and again, we have stressed the need for freeing up the carriageways around New Market. Though Firhad Hakim told police to keep a vigil, policing has been ineffective," he alleged. A KMC official said a drive was taken up last month but the situation reverted soon.