New fire brings new ‘crackdown’ promise

KOLKATA: Smarting under the back-to-back fires in hawker-infested city markets, KMC on Monday said it would crack down on hawkers using plastic sheets to cover their makeshift stalls or wares.
In the Gariahat fire, like the one at Bagri market only four months ago, plastic-covered dalas propagated the fire, preliminary probe indicated. This was also said to be the cause of the March 2012 blaze at Hatibagan market.
Mayor Firhad Hakim on Monday said an instruction was sent to KMC’s market department officials to convey to the hawkers the message of a plastic ban.“If the hawkers come forward and cooperate with us to prevent fire hazards, it’s fine. Otherwise, we may have to implement it without delay,” Hakim said.
Hawker union secretary Debraj Ghosh said: “We held a meeting today with hawkers and will meet the mayor on Tuesday. Among the proposals we want to place is a study by a Denmarkbased group, which had mooted the use of fire-proof tarpaulin sheets instead of plastic.”
Hakim said chief minister Mamata Banerjee had called him during the day and asked him to take effective steps for the affected hawkers. “Based on my conversation with the CM, we have decided to offer Rs 20,000 to each affected hawker. We will rely on Gariahat police station to come up with a list of hawkers whose stalls have been gutted,” he said. The hawkers’ union says 49 hawkers have been affected in the blaze.
The chief minister also called up Ratan Saha, owner of Traders Assembly, and assured him of help. “KMC, too, has been helping us,” Saha said.
A section of KMC’s solid waste management department officials felt that lack of vigil on part of the police and civic body’s market department inspectors had been causing a bigger damage to premier markets. “The ban on plastic to cover stalls has been a rule since long,” said an official. “Had we been more vigilant, the fire could have been prevented.” One of the solutions to could be providing hawkers with stalls on wheels, which could be transported away at closing time every day, said a civic official. In fact, the mayor himself said on Monday that such movable stalls would be given to affected hawkers in Gariahat.
A section of hawkers, however, is opposed to the idea. Ajay De, who sells bags, said it was not possible for him to use such stalls without a clear demarcation of space each hawker will be allotted after a survey to be conducted by KMC. “This idea will work for food hawkers, but not for us,” De said.