S.A.Shofiee, Sylhet :Street hawkers have occupied the roads of Sylhet City. More than 75 per cent of the Sylhet’s footpaths remain illegally occupied, because the authorities of the city corporations and the Sylhet Metropolitan Police pay little attention to free the pathways from the hazards. Thousands of illegal makeshift shops have sprung up, especially in Surma point, Infront of Sylhet Zillaparished, Bondorbazar, Zindabazar, Railway Station, and some other areas of the City Corporations. 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 Sylhet city, 22 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, General Secretary of BAPA Sylhet told That . Chief Engineer of Sylhet 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.Rahmot Ullha, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) said, the footpath is the concern of city corporations.He said, “If the city corporations seek police help we are ready to cooperate.”
