Hawkers who had again encroached the pavements along Chowringhee Place will continue to be there at least till the ongoing survey to identify hawkers is completed, members of the town vending committee and police officers said on Friday.

Police officers and members of Calcutta's town vending committee said the hawkers on the pavements along Chowringhee Place had been allowed to sit there by the vending committee. They were evicted earlier as a penal measure for not following the rules meant for street vendors, a vending committee member said.

The police action came after chief minister Mamata Banerjee vented out her anger at the grabbing of pavements and roads by hawkers and said that a section of police, politicians and civic officials were responsible for the encroachment of public spaces.

Metro reported on Friday that hawkers had come back on the pavements along the road.

On June 25, the pavements along Chowringhee Place were cleared of hawkers as police hollered instructions and a minitruck took their wares away.

An officer of the New Market police station said on Friday that the pavements remained without hawkers for nearly ten days.

"We removed all hawkers' stalls about a week back. They were not allowed to return till the ongoing survey to identify hawkers started," said an officer of New Market police station.

"Whether they would be allowed to continue or not is a decision that a five-member committee overseeing hawker issues will decide," said the officer.

The five-member committee comprises Calcutta's mayor Firhad Hakim, deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, mayoral council member Debashis Kumar and state ministers Aroop Biswas and Moloy Ghatak. This committee is different from the town vending committee.

The town vending committee was formed under statutory provisions. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, a central Act, mandated the formation of a town vending committee in every city and town across India. The committee has the power to regulate hawkers and protect their right to street vending.

This committee had drawn a yellow line along the pavements of Chowringhee Place, marking one-third of the width of the pavements. The hawkers were asked to stay within that line.

"The hawkers were removed temporarily by police because they had gone beyond the yellow line, but they cannot be evicted. They are sitting there as per the decision of the vending committee," said Shaktiman Ghosh, a member of the vending committee and a hawker leader.

Mohammad Alam, a hawker selling shoes and slippers on the pavement, said the size of their stalls had been cut down.

"One of the pavements along Chowringhee Place is very narrow. There is hardly any space. We have still reduced the size of our stalls. We will open the stalls there unless there is some other instruction," he said.