Mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday asked the commissioner of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) to write to the city’s police commissioner about how hawkers in Gariahat were again flouting rules.
The mayor said the police cannot remain “silent spectators” while hawkers keep flouting the rules.
The rules for street vending, framed by the state government, barred the use of plastic or other flammable products in setting up a stall.
Metro reported on December 3 that Gariahat hawkers were back to their old ways. Stalls on both sides of the pavement, overhanging plastic sheets, additional construction beyond the overhead sheds allowed by authorities and occupying portions of roads were some of the violations this newspaper reported.
“The hawkers in Gariahat have again started using plastic. I could understand they were using plastic during monsoon to protect their wares. But this is not the season of rain. They are still using plastic. The plastic sheets must be removed,” Hakim said during a news conference on Saturday.
The CMC allowed the construction of overhead tin sheds on the stalls to replace plastic sheets. The construction of the overhead sheds started in January.
When told that in some places the hawkers had even built sheds beyond what was permitted by the CMC, Hakim said the police must take action against those stalls. He also admitted that stalls had been set up opposite each other on the same stretch of pavement.
It was then that the mayor turned towards the CMC commissioner, Binod Kumar, who was also present in the room.
Hakim then told Kumar: “Please write to the police commissioner. We let the hawkers build the overhead sheds. They (police) cannot be silent spectators. The police must ensure that law and order are maintained.”
The rules for street vending prepared by the state government say that hawkers
can set up their stalls on a third of the width of a pavement and the rest should be free for pedestrians.
Some of the other rules say that hawkers should not set up stalls on a road and no part of the stall should encroach on a road. Also, no stall should be set up facing a road. Across the city, hawkers keep flouting the rules framed for them.
Earlier, too, Hakim had issued warnings to hawkers against the use of plastic sheets in their stalls but to date, no CMC action has taken place against any hawker flouting rules.
In Gariahat, multiple stalls have built additional sheds, beyond the ones built initially. The sheds have now touched the awnings of the stores on the ground floor of the buildings opposite the stalls. The pavements have again become dark, without any sunlight reaching them.
A long stretch of the pavement, from Anandamela going towards Golpark, has stalls on both sides. The stalls occupy more than two-thirds of the pavement’s width. The scene is similar in the northern pavement, from Jashoda Bhavan to Bedouin.
At the crossing of Hindustan Road and Gariahat Road, stalls selling crockery have encroached on the road. Crates and stocks of hawkers are kept on the road on some stretches.
“There were hawkers sitting opposite each other in some stretches earlier, too. The town vending committee will take a decision on how and where to relocate them. We will assist as required,” said an officer of Gariahat police station.
The officer also denied not taking any action.
“We do conduct raids if we see that hawkers are flouting rules,” the officer said.