Dozens of hawkers have started using plastic sheets over or at the back of their stalls in Gariahat, caring little about a ban on their use in pavement stalls.
The Telegraph has reported plastic sheets were returning to stalls on Gariahat pavements. The number of such stalls has increased manifold in the past week as the city received frequent spells of rain.
A hawker leader said plastic sheets are needed to protect the items in the stalls from rain.
Gariahat is not the only place where plastic sheets are being used to cover stalls. Hawkers in New Market and in many other parts of the city, too, are using them.
A few months ago, the civic body was successful in removing plastic sheets from all hawkers’ stalls on pavements along Rashbehari Avenue and Gariahat Road. Hawkers were allowed to build overhead tin shades with the hope that they will not use plastic sheets above their stalls.
“I was shocked to see recently that so many hawkers in Gariahat had again started using plastic sheets. Some of them are using transparent sheets and some are using opaque ones,” said a Ballygunge resident.
“Many of them are rolling up the sheets at the back of the stalls when there is no rain and are rolling down the sheets when it is raining.”
On long stretches on all four sides of the Gariahat crossing, plastic sheets span across the entire width of the pavement, blocking sunlight. They are tied to buildings facing the stalls.
Plastic sheets over hawkers’ stalls on pavements in Gariahat on Sunday
One of the reasons the government has banned the use of plastic sheets by hawkers is that they are flammable.
In 2019, a fire that started in a hawker’s stall gutted large portions of the building that houses the Traders Assembly store at the Gariahat crossing. Residents alleged the fire had spread to the building through plastic sheets over hawkers’ stalls that were tied to the building.
“Once the plastic sheets are back, it will be hard to remove them again,” said the Ballygunge resident.
The state government has framed a set of rules for hawkers. The rules bar hawkers from using plastic sheets and occupying more than a third of the width of a pavement.
Also, hawkers are not allowed to set up stalls facing a road or encroaching on any road.
Debraj Ghosh, a hawker leader, told The Telegraph plastic sheets are needed to protect the items in the stalls from rain.
“The hawkers tried their best to avoid using plastic sheets but the rain forced them to use the sheets,” said.
Calls from this newspaper to Debashis Kumar, mayoral council member of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in charge of hawker-related matters, went unanswered on Sunday.
A member of Kolkata’s Town Vending Committee, which is empowered to regulate hawkers, said hawkers are supposed to have panels at the back of their stalls to protect their wares from rain, heat and dust. But the design of the panels have not been approved yet, said the member.