Kolkata civic body & police jointly remove plastic sheets from Gariahat hawker zone

: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in a joint operation with the Kolkata Police conducted a joint drive at the Gariahat Market to remove the plastic sheets covering the hawker stalls.

The joint drive witnessed the civic body officials along with police asking the hawkers to immediately remove the plastic sheets. Even though some hawkers were initially refusing to do it, later they were forced to remove it. The civic body has also asked residents to inform KMC if they come across such plastic sheets in hawker zones.

The move came after Mayor Firhad Hakim recently asked the municipal commissioner Binod Kumar to write to the Kolkata Police Commissioner, requesting him to instruct police to actively ensure ban of plastic sheets at hawker zones in the city.

Hakim said that several hawkers, especially at Gariahat Market where the KMC has installed tin shades for them, have resumed use of plastic sheets. He said that hawkers had assured that they would remove such sheets after monsoon but they failed to do so. The Mayor said that it is now winter time and hence the excuse of protecting their wares from rain will not stand. The civic body has also asked the hawker unions to convince the sellers to obey the rules. Several hawking zones in markets such as Gariahat, Hatibagan, New Market, continue to use plastic sheets for covering their stalls against heat or rain.

Many of them have opined that tin sheds are hardly of any use against such natural elements and that plastic is a durable material for protection cover. The hawkers have also opined that the state government must come up with an alternative cheap and effective material if it wishes to do away with the plastic sheets.

In the beginning of the year, KMC had installed model tin sheds at Gariahat Market. At the inauguration, the Mayor had said: “In case of fire, due to plastic, all these stalls selling garments and other materials may quickly catch fire leading to a major accident. I have been requesting all the hawkers to remove plastic sheets.”

In 2019, the Traders Assembly market building at Gariahat caught massive fire which finally was put out by eight fire tenders. It was also highlighted that the plastic sheets created visual pollution.