Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The city corporation authorities’ move to free the footpaths from illegal occupation went in vain due to the intervention by the ruling party men.
The sale of clothes, shoes, daily necessities and other items from makeshift shops on the capital’s footpaths has returned to the same venues, as the hawkers have paid money to the local ruling party men, it is alleged.
Even the local leaders of the ruling party and ward councilors have breached their promises given during polls to clear the city footpaths of illegal occupants.
According to the two city corporations, there are approximately 2,60,000 hawkers on 388km footpaths in the capital. About 65 percent of the footpaths have remained occupied by hawkers and shop owners. Besides, construction materials like bricks, rods and sands remain uncared on the footpaths narrowing the space for the pedestrians.
“Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), North City Corporation and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) are responsible for maintaining footpaths and dealing with hawkers, but they have failed to keep footpaths clear for pedestrians,” Lukna Yasmin, Associate Professor of the History Department of Dhaka University told The New Nation on Sunday.
“Law enforcement agencies often conduct drives to make the footpaths hawker-free, but have little, success. Ruling Party men give the hawkers shelter, said Afia Sultana Moni a government primary school teacher from Gandaria.
Using a rickshaw van as a mobile shop on road, Rabiul Islam who sell hosieries in Mirpur area, said, “The police stayed very strict for some days after the eviction drive. Then he planned to do the business on a rickshaw van. “This van helps me cover more area and flee away fast from patrol police.” An official of the Estate Department of DNCC said, his department does not have any mechanism for monitoring the footpaths. “We just evict unauthorized occupants from the footpaths after getting report from the zone offices.”
He said, “Traffic Engineering Department has one road inspector for each zone, He monitors situation of roads and footpaths on his zone. The inspector must look after illegal occupation of the footpaths.”
Talking about the extortion of hawkers, local government expert Professor Tofail Ahmed said, “Extortion is a crime. It has to be stopped. The city corporations will have to evict illegal occupiers to ensure civic facilities for the citizens.”
“Everyone talks about freeing the footpaths and streets from hawkers, but is not easy as they have invested money in their businesses and there are many powerful hands behind them,” the DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq told the media on Thursday.
The hawkers occupied the footpath after getting the full support from the local ruling party men, the DNCC mayor confessed.
He also said that the hawkers would be relocated step by step to consider the interest of the low-income shoppers and traders.
The DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokan 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.” He said, around 2,506 listed street hawkers of Gulistan area will be rehabilitated in a vacant place adjacent to Mohanagar Natya Mancha.
Kamal Siddiqui, president of Bangladesh Chhinnamul Hawkers Samity (BCHS), said, “The hawkers have to pay between Tk 50 and Tk 500 per day depending on the size and location of their stalls.
Mohammad Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, Joint Commissioner (Traffic) of DMP, said, “Police always try to keep footpaths clean but it is not an easy task. We usually deploy forces on the rescued points of footpaths for preventing hawkers but how long could we do it?”
