Hawkers at the Oberoi Grand Arcade in Esplanade are again occupying more than one-third of the width of the pavement, defying a court order and street vending rules.

In an order issued in November 2023, Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court had asked the town vending committee of Calcutta to ensure that two-thirds of the pavement in front of the Oberoi Grand was free for pedestrians.

The street vending rules, notified by the state government in 2018, state that hawkers must restrict their stalls within one-third of the width of a pavement, leaving at least two-thirds of the width clear for pedestrians.

A walk through the arcade on Sunday afternoon, and once earlier on Wednesday afternoon, showed how the court’s order and the rules were being violated. The hawkers have extended their stalls to half of the width of the pavement or more.

While the desks were still within one-third of the width of the pavement, each of the stalls had sticks projecting outwards from the stalls. Garments were displayed on the sticks, which blocked the pavement. Pedestrians walking on the pavement were unable to use the portion.

To make matters worse, customers buying from the stalls stand next to the displayed garments, which takes away more space from the pavement.

Debashis Kumar, the mayoral council member in charge of hawker-related matters at KMC, said that hanging the garments beyond one-third of the pavement’s width at the Grand arcade was a breach of the rule.

“One-third rule means nothing from the stall can occupy more than one-third of the pavement. You cannot project outwards from the top,” said Kumar, who is also the co-chairperson of the town vending committee.

The vending committee, which has hawkers, NGOs and police among its members, have been empowered to regulate hawkers as well as protect them. The committee draws its powers from the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

“We have received a complaint in this regard. We will raise the issue in the next meeting of the town vending committee. The committee comprises hawker leaders as members. They must act and ask the hawkers to follow the rules. If they cannot enforce the rule, the KMC will have to intervene. We may have to go for a drive to enforce rules,” said Kumar.

Debashis Das, a hawker leader and a member of the committee, too, said the hawkers at the arcade must remove the outward projections from their stalls. “It is illegal to do so,” he said.

Some stalls have not only made use of sticks to expand their area, but have also taken advantage of the scaffolding on the pavements, currently utilised for the renovation of Oberoi Grand, to hang their merchandise.

“It is challenging to walk, even for two people walking opposite each other at the same time. Pedestrians have to jostle with each other,” a man who works in a government office nearby said.

“On Sundays and holidays, it seems like a queue at a Durga Puja pandal. There are so many bottlenecks on the pavement that one cannot even walk at a good pace,” he said.