The New Town authorities have issued a notification saying all street vendors have to submit details, including the location of their stalls, so that a town vending committee can be formed.
According to the notification, any association of hawkers can submit details of the members in the headquarters of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), located near the Kolkata Gate crossing.
In May, urban development minister and Kolkata’s mayor Firhad Hakim, who is also chairman of the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco), which builds infrastructure in New Town, had said the absence of a town vending committee in New Town, Sector V and Salt Lake had made the task of regulating hawkers in those places difficult.
Town vending committees, which are made of hawkers, elected representatives, NGOs, government officials and police, are entrusted with the responsibility of regulating hawkers in the respective towns and cities.
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014, a central legislation, says the committee will issue vending certificates to hawkers, rehabilitate them and also take penal measures against errant traders.
An NKDA official said that in the absence of such a committee, it has become “extremely difficult” to rein in hawkers, who have mushroomed across all three action areas of the township.
For the same reason, the official said, the temporary markets built to relocate hawkers are not finding any takers.
The NKDA has constructed temporary markets for hawkers at several locations in New Town. One has come up behind the New Town bus stand, another near Ecospace and a third in front of the Sukho Brishti housing complex in Action Area III.
Apart from the one behind the New Town bus stand, where only a handful of hawkers have set up shop, the markets have not found any takers.
The ones near Ecospace and the Candor building remain under lock and key. The pavements in the vicinity have been completely taken over by hawkers, who have hardly left any space for pedestrians.
In New Town, it is not only the walkways that have been completely taken over by hawkers. Even sections of main roads, service lanes and bicycle lanes have hawkers’ carts and vans placed in the middle.
A senior NKDA official said the formation of a town vending committee in New Town is the first step towards ascertaining how many hawkers operate in the township as well as formulating a roadmap for their rehabilitation so pavements and roads can be made encroachment-free.
This, however, is easier said than done, going by the situation in Kolkata. The city has a functional town vending committee, yet hawkers have grabbed the lion’s share of the city’s walkways.
Stalls made of flammable materials like bamboo shafts, plastic sheets and plywood can be spotted on pavements in Gariahat and near New Market — a stone’s throw from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s headquarters.
Hawker leader Shaktiman Ghosh said hawking is a right to livelihood and a town vending committee looks at the interests of pedestrians as well as hawkers.
He said they had conducted a survey in New Town in 2019 and identified 2,500 hawkers.
“We are not against relocation or rehabilitation of hawkers, but authorities must ensure that once a walkway is cleared, there are no fresh encroachments,” said Ghosh.
Complaint by snakebite victim’s kin
A relative of the man from Uttar Pradesh who died after a snakebite in New Town a month ago has loged a complaint of medical negligence against the attending doctor at the Jirangachha rural hospital, where he was first treated.
Siddhant Rakshit, from Gorakhpur, was in the city with a friend to write a UPSC exam. After a snake bit Rakshit, his friend took him to the rural hospital. He was treated there before being referred to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Ajit Prakash, Siddhant’s uncle, said: “I have lodged a complaint of medical negligence against the doctor. The snake bit Siddhant around 6.30pm. His was in the hospital within 20 minutes. The doctor there did not administer an anti-venom shot. He, instead, gave an anti-tetanus injection.”