Salt Lake: Hawkers in Sector V shut shop on Friday to protest an order asking them to clear three main thoroughfares or face eviction.

The hawkers also stopped several delivery persons of app-based food delivery services on their way to offices in Sector V. Three of them were arrested.

A police jeep did rounds of the road that leads to Ring Road near Godrej Waterside from the Wipro crossing, the stretch from the SDF intersection in GN block to Technopolis building and the road in front of Webel Bhavan in EN block on Friday, asking hawkers to vacate the pavements or be prepared for demolition on Wednesday.

"There is no space for pedestrians to walk. New stalls keep coming up every day. We are spending crores on beautification and we cannot let hawkers spoil that," Salt Lake MLA Sujit Bose said.

Bose alleged a racket in sale of pavement space at steep prices for setting up stalls.

Most pavements in Salt Lake are occupied by hawkers, forcing pedestrians to risk life and limb and walk on the road.

The hawkers have been asked to vacate pavements parallel to three arterial roads in Sector V, an official of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) said.

"Hundreds of people are forced to walk on the roads simply because the pavements are taken up by hawkers. It is a scary situation, especially during rush hours. The situation became worse on Thursday when several roads were flooded and manhole covers had to be opened to ensure drainage," an NDITA official said.

The hawkers have been promised rehabilitation on an empty plot of land in AQ block, sources said. A multi-storeyed car park with a food park is set to come up at AQ 11 near Technopolis. "The project will take time and till then we asked the hawkers to shift to a vacant plot in the area but they refused," the official said.

Bhabotosh Sarkar, a leader of the Salt Lake Sector V Hawkers' Welfare Association, said the hawkers have moved the high court for a stay order on the eviction.