Kolkata civic body ready with new stalls for hawkers

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation has finally made stalls for hawkers at Gariahat. A section of hawkers declined to accept designs for such stalls several times since a fire broke out at Gurudas Mansion at Gariahat on January 20. At least 30 hawkers were affected due to the fire.

Mayor Firhad Hakim on Thursday formally inaugurated the approved model of hawkers’ stalls which will now be fitted with wheels and presented to the hawkers at Gariahat in phases. In the first phase, the KMC will handover 30 such stalls to hawkers in Gariahat. Later depending on pace of manufacturing of these stalls at Entally Workshop, the same will be handed over to other hawkers at Gariahat and some other hawking hubs that include New Market—Esplanade area, Hatibagan, Burrabazar---BBD Bagh area among others.

According to the latest design, the stalls will have space for government advertisements as well as commercial ones. Though a section of the hawkers had preferred stalls without wheels, the civic top brass refused to accept the logic. Hakim on Thursday gave clear instruction to the civic officials at Entally workshop to set wheels to the stalls so that these do not become stationery and thus flout the hawking rules. According to hawking rules, a stall should have wheels to make free it from permanent stall tag. “

However, while inaugurating the stalls, Hakim gave a clear message to leaders of a section of hawker unions that under no circumstances the civic body would accept plastic to be wrapped all over the hawkers’ stalls. “This is a mere beginning. We will go for a complete makeover of the hawking in Kolkata. We will provide designer stalls to the hawkers that not only will serve the purpose of hawking but make Kolkata streets look good,” Hakim said.

The civic administration decided to take a pilot project for manufacturing of movable stalls for the hawkers in February that will ensure no use of plastic materials. Hakim then asked city police commissioner Anuj Sharma to ensure a joint action by the civic conservancy squad and cops to remove plastic sheds from city’s prominent hawking hubs.