Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and police to conduct a joint survey on hawkers in Gariahat, south Kolkata

During the pandemic, police stations collected data on hawkers in their respective areas. The present exercise by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and police is to find out whether there are more hawkers than the numbers registered during a survey in 2015. Such an exercise will help them to identify hawkers who have encroached on roads or are occupying more space than allotted. It will begin with Gariahat in south Kolkata and move out to Hatibagan and New Market. Officials of KMC and police representatives met with hawker leaders at the civic headquarters to fix the dates for the survey. Incidentally, hawkers have already taken over most of the footpaths. As a police officer said - “The number of current hawkers will be compared to the 2015 data. It is apparent that there has been a rise. With this survey, we will be able to quantify the gap.” Survey to identify hawkers encroaching on Kolkata roads starts on Wednesday.

Hawkers encroach on footpaths and force pedestrians to walk on roads, even at the cost of their lives or limbs. It was necessary to ensure “at least walking space” for pedestrians to protect them from road accidents. A senior official of KMC said - “The hawkers who are found to be sitting with the wares on a road will be asked to pack off immediately. Those who occupy more than onethird of a pavement’s width will be asked to remain within the space specified for them.” It seems the Town Vending Committee took the decision to keep two-thirds of the width of footpaths free. Hawkers have almost completely taken over the footpaths in Gariahat, Hatibagan and New Market.

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