The hangar-like structures built in New Town to relocate hawkers with stalls on pavements and roads lie mostly empty.

But in other parts of the township, pavements and even portions of roads demarcated as bicycle tracks are under illegal occupation of hawkers.

A sizeable number of hawkers have been allotted stalls inside the hangars, but they still run their business from pavements and roads. This despite the fact that multiple stalls have been razed in New Town.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee recently said separate zones should be earmarked for hawkers in Sector V and Rajarhat who had set up stalls on pavements.

“I have beautified the area near Webel, New Town and Rajarhat. Lakhs of people visit these places. People working in the offices need to eat. Create a zone for the hawkers. They are right on the pavement. It is looking ugly. Maa Canteens can also be set up here,” Mamata had said at a meeting held to discuss a slew of issues, including pavement-grabbing stalls, encroachments on government land, markets and garbage-lined streets.

The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has built hangar-like structures in several places across New Town over the past decade to relocate hawkers from pavements and roads.

The hangars together can accommodate more than 800 hawkers, an NKDA official said.

The oldest one, which has close to 135 stalls and was inaugurated in 2013, is yet to be fully operational.

This hawker rehabilitation zone is near the office of the deputy commissioner of police, New Town zone, opposite Greenwood Park, in Action Area I.

The structure was set up to rehabilitate hawkers who have stalls around housing complexes like Rail Vihar, near DLF 1 and Nazrul Tirtha.

Only a handful of stalls in the hangar are operational, while the pavements are occupied by hawkers.

The New Town authorities have also built similar hangars in other areas, including near the Candor building in Action Area I, near Baliguri behind DLF II, near the Unitech bus stop and near Ecospace.

Only around 50 hawkers have shifted to the hangar near the Candor building. The rest continue to sell their wares from pavement-grabbing stalls.

The ones near Ecospace and TCS office continue to remain under lock and key. The area in front of Ecospace teems with shacks that sell tea and snacks.

Many hawkers have told this newspaper that they are apprehensive that they might lose their business if they move into the hangar-like structures.