About 70 hawkers protested at Behala Chowrasta on Diamond Harbour Road on Monday morning against the relocation of some hawkers from near the gate of Barisha High School, saying police were not empowered to relocate any hawker.
Several hawkers were asked by the police on Sunday to dismantle their stalls on the pavement near the gate of the school. The hawkers were asked to shift to a lane about 100m away so the pavement near the school had enough space for students and guardians, an officer at Behala police station had said.
The police directive followed the death of eight-year-old Souraneel Sarkar, a student at Barisha Uchcha Balika Vidyamandir, who was crushed under the wheels of a truck while he was walking across Diamond Harbour Road with his father on Friday morning.
The school, where the child studied in Class II, is located on the campus of Barisha High School, on Diamond Harbour Road.
With stalls having been dismantled, a 35-metre stretch of the footpath near the school gate looked starkly different from the rest of the sidewalk.
The hawkers were asked to shift to a lane about 100m away so the pavement near the school had enough space for students and guardians
Bishwarup DuttaOn Monday, the pavement had enough space for pedestrians. Earlier, half its width was occupied by stalls.
But on the same pavement a few metres away, and on the one along the other flank of the road, hawkers were running their business as usual, forcing pedestrians to walk through the carriageway risking their lives.
The hawkers held a roadside meeting on Monday, where they criticised the police’s move.
Shaktiman Ghosh, a leader of Hawker Sangram Committee, said they would raise the issue at a meeting of the town vending committee later this week. At the same time, Ghosh advised the relocated hawkers against returning to their old place.
“We have asked the hawkers to stay put in their new place and not come back near the school gate. But this should not be a precedent. Only the town vending committee has the power to relocate hawkers. The police have no such power,” said Ghosh, who is a member of Calcutta’s town vending committee.
“We have asked the hawkers to resist if similar attempts are made elsewhere in
Behala.”
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014, a central legislation, empowers town vending committees to regulate hawkers in the respective towns and cities.
The committee also issues vending certificates to hawkers so they can run their stalls without being harassed.
Each committee is made of hawkers, cops, government officials, elected representatives and NGOs, among others. The committee for Calcutta is headed by the commissioner of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
An officer at Behala police station said the police did not put any pressure on the hawkers to relocate. “We explained to them the need for relocation and they left on their own,” said the officer.
Mayor Firhad Hakim had said on Friday that hawkers should leave 50 metres from all crossings.
