Stop plastic use among hawkers: Mayor to CP
Kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim has written to Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal to take suitable measures to dissuade hawkers from using plastics for covering their stalls, which increases fire hazards. The hawkers have been told several times to use tin sheds instead of plastic and keep the backside of the stalls open but they continue to flout such directions.
"The winter season is approaching and we have seen that indiscriminate use of plastic sheets used by hawkers for covering their hawking areas and wares increases the possibility of fire hazards. So, the police should take responsibility and ensure that hawkers remove plastic sheets from their stalls," Hakim said.
The Mayor alleged that he has received information that at some places hawkers are occupying spaces illegally with support from a section of the police working in lower ranks. He reiterated that hawkers must stick to one third occupancy rule in case of footpaths and should not encroach upon the black top. "The police needs to be strict for regulating the hawkers. We have already started joint survey of hawkers with the police," he added.
After a fire in hawkers' stalls at Gariahat in 2020, the KMC had made stalls and handed the same to those whose shops were damaged. However, they refused to use them. The KMC along with the police and representatives from Town Vending Committee has started surveys from November 9 to identify hawkers who have encroached upon roads or are occupying more than a third of the width of the pavements. The survey has started from Gariahat in south Kolkata.
Footpaths in Gariahat, Hatibagan and New Market have been almost completely taken over by hawkers and a walk along them is a nightmare for the common people who are compelled to walk on roads, risking their lives. "We have plans to hand over identity cards to the hawkers who are found doing their business in a legal manner," a KMC official said. About 58,000 hawkers had submitted applications to the KMC in 2015 for permission to run their businesses from pavements.
