Clothes on sale near the Patna Junction roundabout on Wednesday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Some illegal kiosks on pavements allegedly promoted by registered shop owners for selling their wares to those in a tearing hurry are behind major traffic snarls in the city.

The registered shopkeepers apparently hire hawkers to encroach pavements and streets and sell as much of their stuff as they can. The Patna police stumbled upon these parallel markets while planning certain route changes near Patna Junction station to streamline traffic.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaj told The Telegraph: “There are many shops, mainly along Patna railway station, that run parallel shops through these hawkers. The police don’t have an issue with them expanding their business. The problem arises when these shopkeepers rope in hawkers and ask them to specifically encroach pavements and streets to sell as much as they can. The Patna Junction area faces the maximum problem, with hawkers encroaching a large part of the road and pavement to sell different things. The police have got these complaints and are making a strategy to act on them.”

Explaining how it works, police sources said shops want to tap the multitudes that visit busy areas like railway stations every day.

“Many people, mostly from the lower middle-class, come to Patna station every day for some work or the other in the capital. But, most of them do not enter the big shops selling clothes or shoes along the Station Road, as they seek things that are flashy as well as cheap. So they enter into a deal with these hawkers, asking them to help them sell some inexpensive things anywhere they want. They also provide them with cheap clothes and money to encourage them. As a result, the traffic movement is blocked altogether,” said an officer.

The option before the police is to remove these hawkers from the roads. While the menace is most along the Patna Junction station, other areas like Rajendra Nagar Terminal, too, are affected. “The police are in talks with the district administration and a plan is being chalked out to end this problem,” another officer said.

“At the moment, we are identifying more congestion points in the city. Soon, there will be route changes and anti-encroachment drives,” he said.