KMC executes hawker survey at Bertram Street in New Market

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), on Monday, started a hawker survey at Bertram Street in New Market area with the assistance of the local police station.

“We are using an app developed by the state Information Technology (IT) department to geo tag or geo fence genuine hawkers to a particular hawking zone. The app will store the information of the stalls. The name of the hawker and his or her picture will be stored and the information linked with Aadhaar. The Aadhaar-linking will ensure that one person does not have more than one stall in the city, as per instructions by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” said Debasish Kumar, Member Mayor in Council of Hawkers’ Rehabilitation Scheme who took to the streets for the survey exercise. Kumar said that it will be verified whether the hawkers had applied for license in 2015 when the last survey was undertaken. “The number of hawkers have increased but the space has remained the same. We will try our best to accommodate all hawkers. Once we finish the survey which will be taken up in all the 144 wards of the KMC, the Town Vending Committee (TVC) will decide on how many hawkers can be accommodated,” he said.

Kumar said that the hawkers on Monday were asked to carry out business as per rules keeping adequate space for pedestrians and they obeyed our directions. “Bertram Street, where walking was a nightmare, looked disciplined after our survey exercise,” he claimed. The genuine hawkers will be given vending certificates by the TVC and will tie them to a specific vending spot. This, said KMC sources, would curb uncontrolled hawker influx and prevent the sub-letting or sale of pavement space, often against an exorbitant amount.

The survey in the next few days will be held on the other roads in and around New Market.