Shah Alam Nur :Around 108 kilometers of footpaths out of 163 kms in Dhaka city have been occupied by street hawkers, source said.More than 65 per cent of the capital’s footpaths remain illegally occupied, because the authorities of the two city corporations and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police pay little attention to free the pathways from the hazards. Thousands of illegal makeshift shops have sprung up, especially in Gulistan, Jatrabari, Saidabad, Mouchak, Shantinagar, Motijheel, New Market, Nilkhet, Nawabpur, Karwanbazar, Gulshan-1 and 2, Badda, Natun Bazar, Baridhara J Block, Uttara, Mirpur, Farmgate and some other areas of the City Corporations.The two city corporations namely Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) are responsible for maintaining about 163 km of footpath across the city, of which about 108 kms are now under illegal occupation.Dhaka North and South City Corporation sources said, street hawkers, vendors and permanent shops had occupied most of the walkways in the capital in various routes.According to Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) in Dhaka city, 18 per cent of existing footpaths are suitable for pavement while the rest is unusable due to car parking, grabbing by hawkers, waste dumping and stockpiling of construction materials. “The occupation of footpaths by the hawkers is causing pedestrians and commuters to suffer, “Dr MA Matin, General Secretary of BAPA told The New Nation on Wednesday. Bangladesh Hawkers Federation President MA Kashem said, hawkers have to pay Tk 700 million monthly as tolls to different agencies across the country.He said, some 2.5 lakh hawkers in the capital have to pay daily tolls to politically backed extortionists to run their business. “Each of the hawkers of area like Farmgate has been paying monthly tolls of Tk 60 per day,” he said Street vendors in the city pay around Tk 370 million as toll per month to people of different professions involved with the rackets, he added. Besides, there are about 350 footpath stalls in the Motijheel area, cumulatively paying around Tk 20 lakh every month.Mohammad Khalilur Rahman, Assistant Engineer of Dhaka South City Corporation said “It will be possible to keep the footpaths free if the police administration approaches with a positive attitude. The city corporation does not have that much power to keep the footpaths free.”He also said, “We conduct eviction drives with the help of magistrates. As soon as the magistrates leave the spots, the hawkers are back again there.”He said, “We’re going to take an initiative to evict the footpath shops permanently, but we need some time. We’ll take action against the influential people backing the footpath hawkers.”Muntasirul Islam, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said, the footpath is the concern of city corporations.He said, “If the city corporations seek police help we are ready to cooperate.”
