The city Corporations authorities have failed to evict hawkers from the city’s footpaths despite repeated attempts in recent days, because the vendors continue their trade paying money.
There are around 3.5 lakh shops on the city’s footpaths, and they pay Tk three crore as subscription per day, say leaders of different hawkers’ associations in the capital.
The money goes into the pockets of a section of police officials, and some leaders of the ruling party and its front organisations through ‘linemen, they alleged.
Of the shops, 3,500 are in Gulistan, Baitul Mukarram and Paltan areas, and they pay Tk 28 lakh “extortion money” per day, claimed Kamal Siddiqui, president of Bangladesh Chhinnamul Hawkers Samity (BCHS).
The hawkers have to pay between Tk 50 to Tk 500 every day depending on the size and location of their stalls.
“Our income would have gone away if we had not given them extortion money, the BCHS president said.
Contacted, Md Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said it is not fair to hold police fully responsible.
“If we get any specific accusation, we will take action against those officials who will be found involved in such illegal practice,” he said.
Asked about the allegation that ruling party men are involved in extorting money from hawkers, Shah Alam Murad, General Secretary of Dhaka City South Awami League, said he didn’t know anything about it.
He said some of the party men might have been involved in it, but none from his unit.
Meanwhile, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon on Saturday said around 2,506 listed street hawkers of Gulistan area will be rehabilitated in a vacant place adjacent to Mohanagar Natya Mancha.
“Illegal structures, shops and street hawkers will be evicted from footpaths and roads of the area soon,” said the DSCC mayor.
The decision of the rehabilitation has been taken at a meeting with councillors at Nagar Bhaban, he said.
The mayor also sought help from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police for the eviction and rehabilitation process. “We’ll fix a time soon for their rehabilitation after discussions with the police administration,” said Khokon.
Terming Thursday’s clash between street hawkers and DSCC staff unexpected, he said no mismanagement in this regard will be tolerated and strict actions will be taken if such incident takes place again.
On Thursday, a clash between hawkers and staff of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) broke out during an eviction drive in Gulistan area.
Wielding firearms, some ruling party men joined the clash that began when a Dhaka South City corporation (DSCC) team went to the underpass market in Gulistan to remove illegal makeshift shops from its pavements.
The ruling party men fired blank shots during the clash. Around 300 shops on footpaths were vandalised.
During a visit to Gulistan area yesterday, hawkers were seen repairing their shops on footpaths.
Some of them said the DSCC team went there to evict shops from the pavements of the underpass market, not their stalls on footpaths. Their stalls were damaged though they were not involved in the clash.
Seeking anonymity, a DSCC official said the city corporation evicted hawkers from footpaths in several drives in Gulistan area over the last six months. But most of them returned and occupied footpaths and roads again with the help of a section of police officers and some local political leaders.
