Yellow line curbs for hawkers move to SN Banerjee Road

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and cops will begin drawing yellow lines on SN Banerjee Road pavements from Friday noon to demarcate hawking space. The civic officials will also draw yellow lines at all traffic intersections (from Chowringhee to AJC Bose Road intersection) to free these crossings of hawkers. The exercise will be conducted under the supervision of the Town Vending Committee members that include hawker union leaders.

Cops on Thursday warned hawkers who are illegally occupying a lion’s share of pavements on SN Banerjee Road in central Kolkata to fall in line and leave two-thirds of the pavement space for pedestrians. The work will begin from the Chowringee end in the presence of members of the Town Vending Committee members, key KMC officials and the police.

According to a KMC official, the exercise of drawing the yellow lines on SN Banerjee pavements is aimed at discouraging fresh hawkers from grabbing space on pavements. “We have noticed cases of fresh encroachments on SN Banerjee pavements. We need to draw a line to thwart such attempts,” said the civic official.

Police sources said that instructions have reached the local police stations and traffic guards that the mapping and marking of one-third of pavement will be completed in the next few days by KMC officials and the police. “We have sought help from the hawkers,” said an officer.

According to a KMC official, if the hawkers don’t conform to the norms and free up two-thirds of the pavements, a joint team comprising officials from the civic body’s solid waste management department and cops will be compelled to conduct a pushback operation.

Meanwhile, even as the New Market PS and Taltala PS will be coordinating to mark one-third of pavement for hawkers on SN Banerjee Road as per fresh instructions from KMC HQ and Lalbazar, the traffic unit of KP has reported to New Market PS and KMC about how certain hawkers who were reportedly encroaching on pavement space from the morning by parking two-wheelers on pavements in the New Market area, barely 200-400 metre from SN Banerjee Road. The issue is most rampant around the Chowringhee Place area, said cops.

“We have reasons to believe that such action is being done to ensure that more space can be illegally occupied for hawking. However, it is for the KMC to finally decide on what course to take in the future,” said an officer.

“It cannot be a free-for-all on the pavements any more. There is nothing like a restricted vending zone in these parts, but now that the chance has come for some reforms, we want to give it an honest try,” said an officer at New Market police station. “Wherever space is available, a hawker cannot grab it,” he reiterated. Lindsay Street, Free School Street, SN Banerjee Road and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road have had their hawker sprawl grow manifold over the years, said locals.