KMC to form 18-member committee for framing comprehensive hawker policy

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to form an 18-member committee who will work towards framing a comprehensive hawker policy. The committee will comprise officials from the civic body, representatives from the civil society as well as hawkers.

A meeting was held in this regard at KMC on Thursday and it was decided that Member Mayor-in-Council (Parks & Gardens) Debashis Kumar will be the chairman of the committee. The first meeting of the newly constituted committee will be held in the month of November.

It may be mentioned that as per the West Bengal Urban Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Rules, 2018, every municipal body will have a town vending committee to identify and issue licences to hawkers. The town vending committee will draw up a list of vending and no-vending zones. A no-vending zone would typically include a bus stop, a small pavement and a narrow street or lane. The committee is supposed to take into account the width of the road, traffic flow and pedestrian movement in a specific area while coming out with recommendations for vending zones.

According to a senior official of the civic body, hawkers are banned from doing business on roads and have to leave two-thirds of every pavement they occupy free for walking. It also bars them from blocking the entrance or exit of shops and houses. "Any structure with tarpaulin or any other inflammable article shall not be allowed," the official added.