The price of keeping a street-side stall in Mirpur

Hawkers in Mirpur alleged that police and local ruling party leaders have been extorting large sums of money from them in order to keep their stores on the sides of the streets. The traders alleged that the ruling party men and policemen use third-party men to extort money, daily, weekly and monthly to keep where they are. Hawkers say they have to pay Tk230 to Tk500 per day, amounting to Tk6,900 to Tk5,000 every month in total. The number adds up to Tk17,250,000 to Tk37,500,000 from the 2,500 hawkers in Mirpur. “The amount is then distributed among the local politicians and members of the law enforcement agencies and city corporation employees,” said a hawker asking not be named. Seeking anonymity, another hawker at Mirpur 10 said: “I sell clothes for children and adults and have to pay Tk230 every day to keep my makeshift store here. On Fridays the amount doubles to Tk450 adding to Tk8,000 to Tk10,000 a month sometimes. I also have to pay Tk40 to rent a generator and keep a night guard.” When asked about the claims of extortion, Md Jalal Dewan, Ward 94 Jubo League leader of Dhaka North City Corporation, said: “I am not involved in any of this but Saiful from the Fire Service area, Jamil from the city corporation area and Morshed and Mostofa from the other side of Mirpur might be involved in this.” Hawkers, however, alleged that Jalal too has been extorting from them through a third person named Guddu Mia. They also alleged that the extorted money then gets distributed among senior AL leaders, police and city corporation members. A Hawker at Mirpur 1 said: “We pay money to police for the sake of our business. If we do not give the money, they would vandalise our shops. Because we pay the extortions, we are informed of police and mobile court raids beforehand. Otherwise we would have been evicted from here.” Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Mirpur police station, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have been here since March and have not heard of any allegations against the police here yet. If we find these allegations to be true, we will take actions against those involved immediately.”