Hawkers in the New Market area said on Sunday that the authorities would have to allow them to sit on the roads from where they were evicted as there is not enough space on pavements to accommodate them.
Leaders of a hawkers’ union told The Telegraph that given the number of hawkers in the New Market area, it was not possible to accommodate everyone on the pavements.
On Saturday, some of the hawkers came to blows with owners of shops along the pavements over whether the owners could park their two-wheelers on a stretch from where street vendors were evicted.
The stretch used be an official parking bay but parking had practically stopped there following encroachment by hawkers. After the hawkers were evicted on Wednesday, the shop owners tried to reclaim the space for parking.
Some of the stretches like Bertram Street looked wider and cleaner on Sunday but the hawkers warned that the situation may not remain so for long.
This newspaper visited Bertram Street on Sunday and saw that the hawkers had reduced their stalls. The hawkers used to occupy nearly half the width of the road.
It was different on Sunday as the stalls occupied 4ft or 5ft of the road width. “I am not sure how long this can continue. There were about 300 hawkers on Bertram Street. On Sunday, only about 130 could open their stalls. What will the rest do?” said Sunny Shaw, a leader of the New Market Hawkers Union, affiliated to the Trinamool Congress’ INTTUC.
“It is not possible to accommodate all hawkers of the New Market area on pavements. The pavements do not have enough space. Hawkers must be allowed to sit on
the road.”
Mohammed Nadeem, another leader from the area, echoed him. “The number of hawkers is much more than what the pavements can accommodate. We are waiting for the survey (to be conducted by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation) to begin on Monday. We will have more clarity on Monday,” he said.
Humayun Place, also in the New Market area, looked wider and cleaner, too.
Hawkers who were removed by the police on Wednesday have not yet returned to the thoroughfare.
Before the police action, there would be two layers of stalls on Humayun Place. The pavement along the road, too, would be occupied by vendors.
Saturday’s skirmish between hawkers and shop owners had taken place outside Shreeram Arcade on Humayun Place. Police guarded the site on Sunday to prevent a repeat of the violence.
New Market and Shreeram Arcade were closed on Sunday but other shops in the area were open.
Debashis Kumar, a mayoral council member and also a member of the five-member committee set up by chief minister Mamata Banerjee to regulate hawkers, was asked about the hawkers’ assertion that it would not be possible to completely move away from roads.
“The (five-member) committee will take a decision. I will not comment anything,” he said on Sunday evening. “Let us begin the survey on Monday.”
Other than Kumar, the committee members are mayor Firhad Hakim, deputy mayor Atin Ghosh and state ministers Aroop Biswas and Moloy Ghatak.
The hawkers, too, pinned their hopes on the survey. They said they expected more clarity to emerge on Monday about whether they could start opening the stalls on
the roads.
The street vending rules framed by the state government and notified in 2018 prohibited stalls on roads. The rules said hawkers can set up stalls within one-third of the width of a pavement. The rest of the sidewalk has to be kept free for pedestrians.
