Turf tussle at Karunamoyee

After months of lull, the hawker storm is brewing again. Hawkers who had set up shop inside Karunamoyee housing complex will once again have to move out since construction is about to start in the space they had so far occupied. The displaced hawkers are now vying for the service road that goes around the perimeter inside the complex.

Two years ago, the footpaths of Karunamoyee crossing were all but missing. They had been usurped by hawkers selling fruits, mobile covers and momos while pedestrians had no choice but to walk on roads, risking life and limb.

But in the run-up to the under-17 FIFA World Cup held at Salt Lake stadium in October 2017, the civic body conducted mass eviction drives. In an attempt to make the township look neat they removed hawkers from important sites such as those around Karunamoyee, the pavements around the Geological Survey of India building opposite DL Block and on the service lane outside Anandalok Hospital.

These displaced hawkers then headed inside Karunamoyee housing complex. Some residents put up lukewarm resistance but by and large the hawkers have been operating from an empty plot within the gated community.

But the honeymoon is soon to be over as the owners of that empty space have come to claim their land.

A notice board was put up on the plot a few months ago announcing that the space was a site for Diya Housing Project of West Bengal Housing Board and that construction would commence soon. It also warned that violators or trespassers would be prosecuted.

Hawkers however did not pay heed and around 50 of them continued to sell vegetables, fruits, meat there every morning. But last week labourers have dumped sand and bricks on the plot.

Change of address, again

Although inside the boundary walls of Karunamoyee, the plot in question belongs to West Bengal Housing Board. They have long wanted to build another estate there with multi-storied flats but Karunamoyee residents had objected, claiming that the new buildings would block their sunlight and ventilation.

The residents had moved court against the board but lost. And now the board has decided to build Diya Housing Complex there.

“We had put up notice boards there long back and now work will start. Encroachers will have to move out,” said an official of the housing board.

Hawkers are upset. “We have more than 20 men and women selling vegetables and fruits here. About 30 more sell fish, poultry and mutton. We have good sales and most customers are residents of Karunamoyee. Business is good,” says Bappa Biswas, a vegetable vendor who sets up his stall right under the board warning trespassers of prosecution.

Nearly a dozen more hawkers also conduct business from inside the boundary wall on the stretch of road that leads from Gate 2 opposite Karunamoyee bus terminus to the gate opposite Bidhannagar Municipal School. The food counters here cook on the inside of wall and serve customers outside, using the boundary wall as a counter.

This had partially stopped after residents picketed the stretch but has resumed.

The displaced hawkers are now targeting the service road encircling the perimeter walls. “With this empty plot also gone we have nowhere to sit but on the service lane,” said a hawker.

Several stalls wrapped in plastic sheets have already been placed on the service road and residents fear it’s a matter of time before the hawkers unveil the stalls and start operating out of them.

Voice of dissent

While the housing complex depends on these hawkers for their daily needs those who live close to the hawking area also have to bear the brunt.

“The hawkers dirty the surroundings, and stray cats and dogs go digging up the fish and meat leftovers,” says Sonali Sarkar, a resident of E Block.

Others are worried about the service lane getting blocked now. “We use the service lane to take our cars out of the complex. If hawkers squat there we will face severe problems,” said Debashis Dhar, a resident of E Block.

Dilip Kumar Dhar, president, Karunamoyee Abasik Samity Phase II, says they have met mayor Sabyasachi Dutta a few times to seek a permanent solution to the problem. “We shall approach him again. We neither want hawkers on the empty plot nor on the service lane. We tried lodging police complaints too but the cops said the matter was beyond their jurisdiction.”

Mayor Sabyasachi Dutta said during the first eviction when the civic teams, along with the police, were evicting hawkers, a section of Karunamoyee residents had opened their gates to let them in. “They had then said that the stalls belonged to their relatives and refused to let us seize them,” he said.