Various social and environmental organisations in Darjeeling on Friday called on the district administration to impose prohibitory orders around Chowrasta where a group of hawkers occupied the Mall Road “illegally” for the second consecutive day.

Sources said the organisations had submitted a memorandum to the subdivisional officer (SDO) of Darjeeling.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973 authorises an executive magistrate to issue an order to prohibit the assembly of four or more people in an area.

A group of 106 hawkers started selling their wares from Mall Road on Thursday. The return of the hawkers to that stretch of road has been termed as “illegal” by Darjeeling municipality chairman Dipendra Thakuri.

An administrative source said the district administration had written to the land and land reforms department and the Darjeeling municipality seeking a comprehensive report on the issue within 15 days.

The administration, sources, said is also trying to get the details of a case that had been filed in Calcutta High Court in 2014 to stop the construction of a hawkers’ market in Chowrasts.

The high court is closed for a week starting from December 23.

Resentment among the public is growing at the hawkers’ decision to occupy Mall Road — one of the few serene places left in Darjeeling. Chowrasta is a major draw
for both local people and tourists.

The 106 hawkers had been evicted from Mall Road by the Darjeeling municipality in April and provided with a temporary space at the Gorkha Rangmanch Bhavan which is also called Bhanu Bhavan.

The Darjeeling municipality and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) had started to work to set up a hawkers’ market at Chowrasta to rehabilitate thes 106 hawkers who complained that they could not conduct good business from the Bhanu Bhawan area.

The general public, however, protested the hawkers’ market construction idea.

Social and environmental organisations on Wednesday filed a police complaint and have also decided to approach the Calcutta High Court on the issue.

Bharat Prakash Rai, general secretary, Federation of Societies for Environment Protection (FOSEP) said that they were in touch with their lawyers to approach the Calcutta high court on the issue of construction of a hawkers' market at Chowrasta was subjudice.