Ugly plastic makes comeback to cover pavement stalls in Kolkata

Plastic has come back to hawkers’ stalls across Kolkata in violation of an order of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Hawkers at multiple places in the city are using plastic sheets to cover their stalls to protect their items from rain and dust.

Most stalls in Gariahat in south Kolkata and New Market in the city’s central part had been without a plastic sheet for the whole of winter but the rain over the past couple of weeks has changed that. A hawker leader said they had to put up the plastic sheets to prevent damage to the wares.

On Friday, The Telegraph found plastic sheets above many stalls in New Market. On Sunday, too, the picture was identical. Many stalls on the pavements in Esplanade also had plastic sheets over and around them.

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Plastic sheets back at New Market, Gariahat stalls after four months

Plastic sheets over hawkers’ stalls in New Market on Sunday

Picture by Gautam Bose

In Gariahat, multiple stalls were found wrapped in plastic on Sunday.

Debraj Ghosh, a hawker leader in Gariahat, said hawkers had suffered huge losses last month because of rain.

“They did not have anything to protect their stalls so their wares got damaged. The stalls are not covered in the rear. Rain and wind are lashing the stalls from behind, damaging the wares,” Ghosh said.

The KMC, which has barred hawkers on pavements from using plastic sheets to minimise chances of fire, has allowed hawkers to build tin shades over their stalls, but the back is not covered yet.

The civic body has planned to cover the back with some material that can also be used to display advertisements or paintings.

Debashis Kumar, mayoral council member in charge of the KMC’s parks and squares department, said the civic body was working on a plan to install the panels on the back of the stalls where advertisements can be put up.

“This will take some time as we have to float a tender to select an agency for the work,” said Kumar.

A fire in 2019 that started on the footpath outside Gurudas Mansion, at the north-western corner of the Gariahat crossing, spread to the building allegedly because of the plastic sheets tied over adjacent stalls.

The hawking rules also ban encroachment on roads by stalls, prevent stalls from facing a road and bar hawkers from occupying more than two-thirds of a pavement’s width.