Won’t evict hawkers, will regulate them: KMC

Kolkata: KMC is in no mood to conduct any eviction drives to remove unauthorised hawkers, but will regulate rampant hawking. The decision was made clear by mayor Firhad Hakim and MMiC Debasish Kumar on the concluding day of the KMC budget session. "Our govt is strictly against taking any oppressive policy against hawkers and hence we won't conduct any eviction drive. We may need to regulate unauthorised hawking from time to time," said Kumar.However, Kumar added that an effort was on to hand over certificates of vending to bona fide hawkers. "We have identified 54,000 genuine hawkers. This step will pave the way for eliminating unauthorised hawkers," said Kumar. Hawker Sangram Committee chief Saktiman Ghosh said unless police pushed back errant sellers, the purpose of issuing the certificates would be lost. A town-vending committee member on Tuesday conceded that, in the absence of cop vigil, hawkers had returned to the roads.Participating in the budget debate, BJP councillors Sajal Ghosh and Vijay Ojha on Tuesday came down heavily on the KMC administration for sitting idle and watching the pavements being taken over by new hawkers. Ghosh pointed out that the hawker encroachment near New Market worsened to such an extent that hundreds of traders of the heritage market were suffering a huge business loss.In fact, the New Market traders recently sought intervention of the CMO to tackle hawker encroachment in and around the grade-1 heritage market. They presented their request at a business conclave organised by the Confederation of West Bengal Trade Associations last Dec, where CM Mamata Banerjee was the keynote speaker.SS Hogg Market Traders' Association President Ashok Gupta pointed out that despite assurances from KMC and Kolkata Police to keep the streets around New Market free of encroachments, the situation on the ground only worsened. "KMC and police offered hawkers a festive breather before Durga Puja. But despite the pujas being over for a couple of months, the encroachments only grew," Gupta said.