Hawkers, who were setting up their stalls on the roads in the New Market area, were removed during a joint drive by Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Tuesday.

A team has been set up that will conduct drives every alternate day in the New Market area in the next fortnight, a senior official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said.

Scores of hawkers had been setting up stalls on Bertram Street, Humayun Place and Lindsay Street, violating the street vending rules framed by the state government.

The street vending rules, notified in 2018, barred hawkers from setting up stalls on a road. The rules also said that hawkers can set up stalls on only one-third width of a pavement and leave the rest free for pedestrians.

On Tuesday afternoon, the team comprising police and KMC was also accompanied by members of city’s town vending committee.

The vending committee, set up under the central act — The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 — is empowered to punish errant hawkers and also ensure that hawkers are able to earn livelihood.

The committee consists of senior officials of the civic body, police officers, hawker leaders and elected representatives, among others.

“We have removed hawkers who had set up stalls on the roads in the New Market area. A large team with senior officials of the KMC and police officers was present in New Market during Tuesday’s drive,” said a senior KMC official.

“We have also set up a smaller team that will visit the area every alternate day over the next fortnight. This team will ensure that no one is able to set up stalls on the roads. The repeated visits will be done to send the message that no hawker will be allowed on the road any more,” said the official.

The police and KMC had conducted drives in the New Market area earlier also, but the hawkers returned to the roads again. But a sustained drive over a fortnight was never done earlier.

“If we see that hawkers are coming back again after the fortnight, we will again conduct drives. We are now focusing on the New Market area as a number of hawkers have set up their stalls on the roads,” said the KMC official.

Debashis Das, a member of Calcutta’s town vending committee and a hawker leader, said they have been demanding such drives for long.

“The committee members and many hawkers have agreed to follow the rules. Only a few hawkers were violating the rules in the New Market area. We have been demanding police’s assistance for many days,” he said.

An officer of Kolkata Police said they would assist the KMC and the town vending committee whenever their assistance was sought.

“During Tuesday’s drive, the hawkers were explained that rules do not allow them to set up stalls on the road,” said a police officer.

The police had cleared Humayun Place in the New Market area of all hawkers within an hour in June 2024.

The same hawkers had refused to vacate the roads and shift their stalls to the pavement when the KMC had in January 2024 asked them to vacate the road citing the Street Vending Rules.

The June 2024 drive followed chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s outburst at the police and a section of politicians whose connivance, she said, had made the city ugly.