With Eid-ul-Fitr close at hand, local political leaders and police officers have allegedly geared up extortion, collecting at least Tk30m a day from footpath vendors, according to officials and victims.
Hawkers and vendors from different parts of the city alleged that local political leaders, with the help of policemen, are extorting money from them for using the footpath for business.
According to the city corporation, the road network in the capital covers 2289.69km, with 388km of footpath. While investigation, it was found that, hawkers occupy about 60% of footpath in the capital, with 250,000 hawkers operating their business. During any religious festival, at least 50,000 seasonal hawkers join the existing ones.
Officials said, around 15 to 20 linemen work as extortionist in the 120 popular footpaths, where hawkers operate. These linemen mainly collect money from the vendors and give a part of it to local leaders and police officers. The collected amount based on area varies between Tk30 and Tk500.
The extortionists collect Tk300 to Tk500 from footpaths at Motijheel, Gulistan, Purana Paltan, Mouchak, Farmgate and Jatrabari area while Tk30 to 50 is collected from Mohakhali, Mirpur-1 and Mirpur-10 area.
Sources at the hawkers’ association in the capital said, around Tk30m is milked from footpaths every day. In an investigation, the Dhaka Tribune acquired names of some these extortionist. Among them, Salam, Hindu Babul, Chingri Babul and Goze Mia of Gulistan area, Saidul Mollah, Azad, Nur Islam and Helal of Motijheel area, Koton and Sazu of Baitul Mukarram area, Siraj Talukder, Selim and Moududi Nur Islam of Jurain area, Torab Ali of Jatrabari, Hossain, Sattar and Rafiq of New market area, Kana Dulal and Shah Alam of Farmgate area.
If any hawkers refuse to give money to the linemen, he is not allowed to continue his business in that area anymore, says Mohammad Hossain, a hawker from Baitul Mokarram area.
Mohammad Rubel, from Bikrampur, who sells clothes on the footpath at city’s New Market area, said, some linemen, employed by local political leaders, collected toll from him.
The political leaders, who control the toll collection also manage the police forces, Rubel alleged. He also claimed to usually paying Tk100 to Tk200 to linemen on a daily basis.
In this regard, MA Kashem, president of the Bangladesh Hawkers’ Federation, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have information on footpath extortion and we have already contacted with the departments concerned in the government and hope they will take steps shortly.”
Kamal Siddique, president of the Chinnomul Hawkers’ Association, said: “It is a common issue that extortion rate in the footpath goes up ahead of Eids and we have tried hard to stop it but our efforts went in vain.” However, he hoped that the authorities concerned would take necessary steps.
The extortion is so widespread that even police officers sometimes do not hesitate to admit. A subinspector of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said, “Just a round in the late evening is enough to get our eight pockets stuffed with money.”
Meanwhile, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective Branch of Police, denied involvement of any policemen in extortion and said if any policeman is found to be involved in extortion, stern action will be taken against him.
Law enforcement members, including plainclothes detective, are now patrolling the capital to curb crime, including extortion, he said. He further demanded that the extortion is minimal.
Shamsul Haque Tuku, state minister for home affairs, in this regard said, members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police have been deployed at shopping malls and sensitive areas of the capital to fend off any kind of unwanted incidents and protect criminal activities.