The hawkers who have set up their stalls on roads in the New Market area have to approach the town vending committee for a space to open their stalls and cannot sit on the road on their own, Debashis Kumar, the mayoral council member of Kolkata Municipal Corporation in-charge of hawker related matters, said on Monday.

Police on Monday chased away a group of hawkers from Lindsay Street, Bertram Street, Mirza Ghalib Street and adjoining areas. “Two drives were taken up on Monday to remove hawkers encroaching roads,” said an officer of New Market police station.

However, most of the hawkers have returned to their, said local shop owners.

The drive came after the alleged attack on two hawker brothers by a group on Harish Mukherjee Road, near SSKM Hospital late on Saturday.

Both brothers are being treated at SSKM Hospital for injuries. Police have arrested Mohammad Javed, 31, and Mohammad Tabrej, 20, in this connection. They are residents of Taltala.

Family members of the victims have alleged that a group of hawkers in the New Market area was trying to extort money from the brothers.

“Prima facie, Saturday’s attack was a fall out of rivalry between two hawker unions of New Market,” said an officer of Bhowanipore police
station.

Town vending committee members also said the rivalry between the two unions was the cause of the attack.

“Recently, a drive was launched to remove hawkers from roads and footpaths. But some hawkers have since returned to their old places and formed two groups. One is affiliated with a union that backs hawkers with stalls on footpaths. The other looks after the hawkers who are still on the roads. Members of the two unions are locked in a dispute and the attack on the brothers late on Saturday was an outcome of that,” a senior member of the town vending committee told Metro.

A hawker union leader said the rivalry would continue until the police permanently removed those on the roads.

“We have told police several times about the group of hawkers encroaching the roads. But no permanent solution has been provided,” said Debashis Das, one of the leaders of Hawker Sangram Committee.

Debashis Kumar, also the co-chairperson of the town vending committee, said anyone who set up stalls on roads did so “at their own risk” because the rules have made it clear that no stall can be set up on roads.

“If hawkers have grievances they have to approach the town vending committee,” he said.

The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, a central law, has empowered the committee to penalise errant hawkers and take measures to protect their livelihood. Every town or city in the country must have its town vending committee.

The street vending rules framed by the state government and notified in 2018 prohibited stalls on roads. The rules said hawkers can set up stalls within one-third of the width of a pavement. The rest of the sidewalk has to be kept free for pedestrians. It also barred hawkers from using tarpaulins or flammable substances in the stalls.