The mayoral council of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has approved a proposal to build frames on the back of hawkers’ stalls, Debasish Kumar, a member of the council, said on Friday.
Advertisements or paintings will be put up on these panels, said Kumar, who is the mayoral council member in charge of the KMC’s parks and squares department.
The Telegraph has reported that the hawkers have put up cloth pieces at the rear of their stalls in Gariahat after removing plastic sheets, which made the stalls look as ugly as before, if not worse. Besides, clothes are flammable, too, the reason why the KMC wanted the hawkers to remove plastic sheets from their stalls.
“We have passed the proposal to build panels (frames) on the back of hawkers’ stalls. The space can be used to put up advertisements or good paintings, which will make the place look good,” Kumar said.
The KMC has decided to allow hawkers to build a tin shade over their stalls, replacing plastic sheets. The tin shade should not stretch beyond one-third of the width of the footpath. Hawking rules followed in Kolkata prohibit stalls from occupying more than a third of the width of the pavement.
The work to build tin shade has started in Gariahat. But many hawkers have hung cloth pieces along the road, behind their stalls. A hawker leader said clothes have been put up to protect the wares from dust.
“If the rear has panels as cover, the cloth pieces will no longer remain there,” mayoral council member Kumar said.
Abin Chaudhuri, an architect who has designed many public spaces in the city, welcomed the KMC’s decision to build panels at the rear of the stalls. There is ample opportunity, he said, to use the rear to put up advertisements and graffiti.
“There could be graffiti or there could be advertisements on those panels. The advertisements will suit more on stretches where there are no car parking bays along the carriageway,” he told this newspaper.
On the stretches where there are car parking bays, the height of the panels must be more than the height of parked cars, Chaudhuri said.
Chaudhuri said the KMC should immediately address the issue of electric wires hanging inside the stalls. They should be put inside cases, he said.
The hawking rules prepared by the state government say hawkers cannot use plastic sheets to cover their stalls and no stall should encroach on the road.
