Transport minister Madan Mitra asks unions to rein in truant hawkers

KOLKATA: A day after a young woman out to shop with her cousins was slapped by a hawker in the New Market area, transport minister Madan Mitra met traders' federation in the locality to discuss the problem posed by rampant hawker encroachment and misbehaviour. Hawker union leaders were also present.
The incident on Thursday evening had threatened to turn volatile with the aggressive hawkers nearly coming to blows with traders of New Market who had taken to the street in protest.Shop owners of New Market, Sreeram Arcade, Firpo's Market and Chowringhee Market had even contemplated downing shutters before police stepped in and controlled the situation.
While traders complained about hawker encroachment in the area reaching uncontrollable proportions, affecting customer movement and business, hawkers denied that they misbehaved with customers on a regular basis and claimed Thursday's incident was an isolated one.
Admonishing the hawker unions' representatives for allowing the situation to spiral out of hand on Thursday, the minister made it clear that they would have to rein in truant hawkers or face administrative action.
The minister also assured traders that the government would try to regulate hawking in the area after the elections are over. "We will set up a committee comprising Kolkata mayor, local MP, MLA and representatives of traders and hawkers to iron out the differences between traders and hawkers," Mitra said.
Joint Traders' Federation secretary Rajeev Singh was glad that the government had finally taken note of the problem. "The minster spoke to both us and hawkers' representative earnestly and appeared keen to resolve the issue. We will not protest for the time being but keep a vigil so that the unfortunate incident that happened on Thursday does not recur," he said.
Hawkers continued to dominate Bertram Street, Corporation Street, Humayun Place and Lindsay Street on Friday, encroaching half the carriageway in some roads. Nearly all women shoppers TOI spoke to said hawkers had become increasingly hostile and abrasive in recent years.