Calcutta: Hawkers in Gariahat were called to Gariahat police station last week and asked to remove plastic sheets hanging over their stalls.
A large number of plastic sheets have been removed since the May 22 meeting.
Metro reported on May 22 that hawkers in Gariahat were again hanging plastic sheets over their stalls and at the back of the stalls. Many traders had also tied one end of the plastic sheets to buildings facing the stalls.
Rules framed by the state government for hawkers ban the use of plastic sheets over stalls.
A fire that broke out at a hawker’s stall in Gariahat in 2019 gutted large portions of the building that houses the Traders Assembly and Adi Dhakeswari Bastralaya stores.
Residents had alleged that the fire spread to the building through plastic sheets that were hung over the stalls and tied to the building.
Hawkers have been barred from using plastic sheets on their stalls because they are flammable, said an official of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC).
“We had asked the hawkers to meet us at the police station. We told them that they could not hang plastic sheets around their stalls because that was a violation of an order,” said an officer at Gariahat policestation.
During the conversation with the police, the hawkers defended their use of plastic sheets saying their wares would be damaged in rain if they were not allowed to use those sheets.
Another officer at the police station said the hawkers were told that they would be allowed to keep the plastic sheets only when it rained. “We told them that the plastic sheets can be used only when it rains. They cannot keep them hanging always,” said the officer.
All stalls in Gariahat are supposed to have panels at the back to protect the items on sale from dust, heat and rain. A hawker leader blamed the delay in installing the panels for the use of plastic sheets. “If the back panels were ready by now, the hawkers would not have hung the plastic sheets,” the leader said.
Debashis Kumar, mayoral council member of the CMC in charge of hawker-related matters, said the civic body would start installing the panels before the onset of the monsoon. “Work will continue during the monsoon,” he said.
The civic body has allowed the hawkers to build tin shades over their stalls to stop water from coming inside.
The prod from the police may have forced hawkers in Gariahat to remove plastic sheets, but in almost all other parts of Calcutta, including New Market and Hatibagan, hawkers are still using plastic sheets.