Hawkers will be asked to put up a tin shade over their stalls instead of plastic sheets, the civic body has decided.
Hawking rules prepared by the state government prohibits use of plastic sheets above stalls on footpaths because those are flammable.
“The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has asked hawker unions to put up tin shade, instead of plastic sheets, over their stalls,” Debashis Kumar, mayoral council member in charge of the civic body’s parks and squares department, said on Wednesday.
The use of tin, however, has its own problems. “Though tin is not flammable, it will hardly change the ugliness of the streets and the pavements unless the shade is designed aesthetically,” said architect Abin Chaudhuri, who has designed many public spaces in the city.
Tin rusts quickly and the stalls will look ugly if the rusted shade is not replaced promptly. Chaudhuri wondered why the KMC is not insisting on stalls with wheels.
“In parts of Gariahat, the rear side of the stalls faces the road and there is an ample opportunity to make the stalls aesthetically pleasing, which will make the place look better. I do not know how they will do it, but putting up tin sheets in an unplanned manner will not change anything,” he said.
Tin shade lends permanency to stalls, said a resident of Gariahat in south Kolkata. “If there is a tin shade above stalls, there will hardly be any scope for action if hawkers occupy space not meant for them,” the elderly man said.
Now, with plastic sheets over stalls, there is at least some possibility of action by the CMC. But tin shade will take away that threat.
“I feel tin shade will be less ugly than plastic sheets,” mayoral council member Kumar said.
A few stalls with tin shade will be built in Golpark, near Gariahat, over the weekend, said hawker union leaders.
Stalls with tin shade have been built in many parts of the city: Hatibagan, near Acropolis Mall in Kasba and on the footpath leading to Jadu Babu’s Baazar in Bhowanipore.
In Bhowanipore, the tin shade has completely covered the footpath. “The space is now dark even in the afternoon as the shade blocks sunlight and it feels claustrophobic,” said a resident of the locality who regularly walks down the stretch.
Architect Chaudhuri cited examples of well-designed stalls on pavements in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and in cities in the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.
“The government can make well-designed stalls in Kolkata, too. We can have beautiful streets and pavements, even with hawkers, if they are regulated well,” said Chaudhuri.
The KMC was discussing alternatives to plastic sheets with hawkers for some time and tin has emerged as the consensus, said a KMC official.
The civic body had recently launched a survey of hawkers in three shopping hubs: Gariahat, New Market and Hatibagan.
In Gariahat, where the survey is yet to be completed, 1,564 stalls have so far been found, said a member of the town vending committee. The committee, which includes government officials and hawker union leaders, is conducting the survey.
In New Market, where, too, the survey is incomplete, 1,285 stalls have so far been identified.
In Hatibagan, where the survey has been completed, 1,121 stalls have been identified.