Mohammed Badrul Ahsan :
The owners of commercial spaces in Gulistan, Motijheel, Dilkusha and Purana Paltan areas from now on will face legal action if they fail to comply with the corporation’s latest decission not to accept any make-shift shops in front of their respective establishments.
The authority of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has recently decided to issue letter asking all the shop owners, markets and office authorities not to allow vendors in front of their respective establishments.
Under the latest decision that was approved by the DSCC will take stern action against the non-complying owners.
However, DSCC has recently tightened noose around the necks of defiant ones in the hawker-eviction drive as it asked establishments to clear walkways close by.
Protesters and their sympathisers say the latest order takes away the little opportunities of informal trade during working hours on the city’s footpaths.
When contacted, DSCC Chief Estate Officer Mohammad Kamrul Islam Chowdhury said they took the decision as roadside vendors often return onto the footpaths during working days soon after the eviction drive.
He said they had evidence that many of the shops and market authorities unofficially rent the footpaths close by their business establishments to the informal traders
“That’s why we did not get expected level of results even after conducting eviction on a regular basis. It’s also a responsibility of the trade licence-holders to clear their passageways,” he said.
Seeking anonymity, a senior DSCC officer said they will send letters to the commercial space holders soon in this connection. “Those who will not follow the order will face tougher action like suspension or cancellation of the trade licence,” he said.
The DSCC administration will monitor the progress regularly, he said, adding that in absence of any strict action from the authority concerned various groups controlled the sidewalk-based business, which ballooned to a level making difficult to bulldoze these.
Trade on footpaths takes place through informal channels. Neither any written contract is maintained nor any advance security money paid for establishing lease-outs. Instead, acquaintance of the aspiring lessee with the primary occupier or unwritten certification by a third person works as a guarantee in lieu of advance payment.
According to a study by BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), the unofficial annual incomes from hawkers’ rents come to around Tk 18.25 billion, which is nearly the combined budget (Tk 20.62 billion) of both halves of Dhaka City Corporation.
