Pavement stalls in Gariahat reopened on Wednesday morning but only a few had numbers written on the pavement in front of them.

The owners of stalls that are yet to be numbered said the lockdown had pushed them to the wall and they could not afford to wait any longer.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on May 19 said hawkers could reopen their stalls from May 27 but suggested that they adopt an odd-even formula to ensure shoppers maintain social distancing.

Under the formula, the stalls with odd numbers and those with even numbers will open on alternate days.

There are about 5,000 hawkers in and around Gariahat and close to 2,500 in the Hatibagan area. Sources said only 45 stalls in Gariahat — the ones around the municipal corporation market — have been numbered.

Hawkers who opened their shops did not have ropes in front to ensure social distancing. None wore gloves but all were wearing masks. Some kept sanitisers in small bottles.

“We have drawn up a list of odd-even stalls and all the owners have been given a set of advisories on maintaining social distancing,” said Debraj Ghosh, a hawker union leader of Gariahat.

“We had held a meeting on May 19 with two other union leaders on how to go about it. There is no problem now.”

Officers of Gariahat police station said a list of stalls has been drawn up but the unions were still to complete writing the numbers on the footpath, in front of the respective stalls. “We are continuously nudging them. They have assured us that it would be completed in two days,” an officer said.

Several Calcuttans have expressed the fear that it would be impossible to follow physical distancing norms on pavements once hawkers’ stalls were reopened.

Officers at Lalbazar said all police stations had been asked to ensure that the odd-even policy was strictly enforced.

“Officers doing the rounds in their respective areas will have to ensure that all hawkers keep sanitisers and wear masks,” an officer said.

“We will complete the numbering process once the trees and branches that fell during last week’s storm are removed,” said a member of the Hawker Sangram Committee.