Three to four rows of hawkers and illegal two-wheeler parking on Hogg Street, the road in front of Nizam’s restaurant, has made even walking impossible, a visit by the city’s town vending committee revealed on Friday.
The committee submitted a report to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday mentioning the situation they witnessed during the inspection.
The inspection followed a complaint from the traders’ association of New Market (SS Hogg Market).
“The number of hawkers has increased in that space. The hawkers told us that the increase was because new people have set up stalls before Id. We told them even if these were temporary stalls, they have to keep the road free for vehicles to move and for pedestrians,” said Asit Saha, a member of the town vending committee of Calcutta and a hawker leader.
“We have submitted a report to the KMC,” said Saha.
A visit to the stretch showed that hawkers were taking up more than two-thirds of the road. This was in addition to hawkers’ stalls on the pavement.
Hawkers have set up two rows of stalls on the western side of Hogg Street, along the boundary wall of the plot where Chaplin (earlier Minerva) cinema once stood. Next to two rows of stalls were two more rows of two-wheelers parked on the road.
On the eastern side of Hogg Street, just outside Nizam’s and other shops on the ground floor of a building, there was another row of stalls.
All the stalls were on the road, in flagrant violation of rules.
The Street Vending Rules framed by the state government say no stall can be set up on a road. The rules say hawkers can set up stalls within one-third of the width of a pavement, leaving the rest free for pedestrians.
Friday’s inspection by the town vending committee was in response to a complaint from traders who have shops inside New Market.
“We wrote a complaint to the town vending committee as well as to the KMC about a week back. There is no space to park a car on Bertram Street. We have seen that the number of hawkers has suddenly increased on Hogg Street. This is negatively impacting our business. Our customers are dwindling,” said Ashok Gupta, president of SS Hogg Market Traders Association.
The committee has been empowered by The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 — a central Act — to regulate hawkers in a city. Every city or town in the country must have its own town vending committee, which should include representatives of hawkers, traders, NGOs, police, government officials and others.
A KMC official who was part of the inspection team said “it was impossible to walk”.
A yellow line drawn by the KMC on pavements in the New Market area to restrict hawkers has worn out but street vendors continue to take up more than a third of the width of the footpaths.
The non-adherence to rules raises questions about the result of the exercise of drawing the yellow lines.
The civic body drew yellow lines on four roads in the New Market area — Humayun Place, Bertram Street, Chowringhee Place and Lindsay Street — in January.
Members of the committee said any attempt to enforce the one-third rule in the New Market area was unlikely before the Lok Sabha elections.