Hawkers in the New Market area have not shifted from the roads, though a 15-day period given to them by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to abide by a set of rules ended two days back.
Some hawkers said they would not shift elsewhere. The civic body has to create space for them on roads around New Market, they demanded.
Debashis Kumar, the mayoral council member of the KMC who handles hawker-related issues, said the hawkers will get some more time to relocate.
“This issue will take some time to be resolved. The hawkers have sought some time but must eventually follow the rules,” he said.
The street vending rules — framed by the state government — say hawkers cannot sit on a road and no stall can encroach on any portion of a road. Besides, the hawkers have to restrict themselves within one-third width of pavements and leave the rest free for pedestrians.
Sources in the KMC said a shuffle in the top executive leadership of the civic body can further delay the process. A new commissioner took charge in the KMC on Friday.
The current special commissioner and the secretary, too, are scheduled to leave in a few days.
When The Telegraph visited the central Kolkata shopping hub on Sunday, there was little change from a month before. There were hawkers on Humayun Place and Bertram Street. The hawkers had only pushed back their stalls and freed some more space on the roads.
The KMC and the police drew yellow lines on the pavements along Humayun Place, Lindsay Street, Bertram Street and Chowringee Place on the night of January 6, demarcating two-thirds width of the sidewalks that should be free for pedestrians. Hawkers can set up stalls on the remaining space.
The police and the town vending committee announced the rules in the New Market area last month. A hawker leader had told this newspaper earlier that there were about 900 traders on pavements and roads surrounding New Market.
They said the pavements did not have enough space to accommodate so many hawkers, many of whom are sitting on roads.
“We will hold a meeting with all hawker unions in New Market on February 10 and decide on how to move ahead. We are not against following the rules. We have requested the KMC to build new pavements on some stretches so hawkers who now sit on roads with their ware can shift to pavements,” said Sunny Shaw, general secretary of the Lindsay Street Hawkers’ Union.
Saif Ali, another hawker leader in the area, said the hawkers will again meet Kumar and discuss the way forward.
Kumar, however, told this newspaper that there was no plan yet to build new footpaths. When told that the hawkers who have set up stalls on roads in the New Market area are refusing to move, he said: “It is for the town vending committee to decide whether they want to relocate the hawkers or not.”
The committee has been empowered by the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 as the sole authority to decide how to regulate street vendors in a town or city.
The committee for Kolkata, made up of street vendors, civic officials, NGOs and cops, among others, has decided to free the roads around New Market of hawkers.
Kumar is co-chairperson of the committee.
