KOLKATA: P R S Oberoi, the chairman of The Oberoi Group, has come down heavily on the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the state administration for the sorry state of the city’s
central business district. “It is very sad to see that the centre of the city is occupied by hawkers,” he said, visibly unhappy with the burgeoning number of illegal
hawkers at Esplanade and the Oberoi Grand arcade.
Oberoi was in the city to attend the annual general meeting of
EIH Ltd, the group’s flagship. The octogenarian, who, along with his father M S Oberoi, is synonymous with the Indian hospitality industry, said he had written to Kolkata mayor
Sovan Chatterjee regarding the problem, but the mayor had not replied.
When asked for comment, Chatterjee was cagey. “I can’t make any commitment on this issue. I can neither say we need to evict all hawkers from the Grand arcade, nor can I deny that encroachment is a problem there. I have already conveyed my point of view as mayor of the city to the hotel authorities,” he said.
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The Chowringhee-Dalhousie-Park Street zone has remained the city's Central Business District despite Kolkata's recent expansion to the north, east and south. It also remains the city's face to a large section of visitors, including those from abroad. The rest of the city should not become ugly and wallow in squalor but it is imperative that we present our best face to the world and keep the CBD as clean and beautiful as possible.
Even as the mayor was not ready to commit, Oberoi belives the sorry state of affairs at the central business district was painting a very grim picture of the city to foreigners. “I feel really sad. The city, in this part, has deteriorated. You cannot walk on the street. There is no city in the country where you have this problem. The CBD here does not look clean. There is no pavement where you can walk,” he added.
Later on, the vice-chairman of EIH Ltd, S S Mukherjee, said the hawking zone had even expanded in the last few years. “Now, the hawking zone has expanded up to the museum. If things going on like this, after a few years, we shall see that even pavements in Park Street have been occupied by hawkers,” he said.
The number of hawkers five years ago in and around the Grand arcade was 500. It has gone up to 1,000.
Reacting to the scathing comment, the secretary of Joint Traders’ Federation (JTF), Rajib Singh, said: “We have been requesting the KMC and the Kolkata Police brass to restrict rampant hawking at the Grand arcade. Here, the number of hawkers are growing rapidly. We have also registered our protest against encroachment of pavements in front of New Market and SreeRam Arcade. But all requests have fallen on deaf ears.”
Picture used for representational purpose
