The Sylhet police, from last Sunday, have started a drive to oust the illegal shops of hawkers on footpaths with an aim to minimise the traffic congestion in the Sylhet city but according to the police, the drives are ineffective as within a week the hawkers return.
Given the scenario, the residents of Sylhet city consider the drives as a mere “eye-wash.”
On the issue, SI Tareq, officer-in-charge of Bandarbazar police station who led the drive, said: “We have to conduct drives again and again as the hawkers abandon their shops on footpaths during the drive and return after the drive is over,” according to banglanews24.
He also said: “Drives will be conducted until the footpaths are free.”
However, protesting the drives, the district and mohanagar Hawkers’ League brought out a procession in the city on Tuesday. They claimed police were forcefully evicting them without proper rehabilitation.
Footpaths in most places of the Sylhet city are filled with shops usually selling fruits, newspapers, magazines, utensils, pirated CDs, fake keys and clothes. Many itinerant shops also occupy the walkways but some hawkers have their permanent makeshifts on these footpaths.
The footpaths in front of and around Sylhet Deputy Commissioner’s office, Sylhet City Corporation, principal post office at Zindabazar, Ogrogami Girls’ School, Paper Point to Jail Road via Lalbazar are under the possession of the hawkers. The hawkers at these places run their businesses all through the day during busy hours and sometimes continue till night.
Due to their shops, the width of the city roads has reduced, causing severe traffic congestions. Even the pedestrians find it difficult to walk on the footpaths.
The hawkers on the footpaths claimed they were running their businesses by paying the police and their sources daily.
Al Amin, a clothes seller who has his shop beside the walls of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, said: “It has been seven to eight months since I have come here to do business and I have been paying Tk20 to Tk30 daily as rent for the area of the footpath where I operate.”
Some hawkers, selling spectacles in front of the City Corporation, said they would not leave the place if they are not rehabilitated. One of them, Sohel said: “Police has asked us to leave the place but where will we go? We are here to satisfy our hunger and family needs.
“We will only leave the place if we get rehabilitation.”
Another hawker, a lock-maker, claimed that no one has the courage to oust them.
Regarding the drives, Additional Commissioner SM Rukon Uddin of Sylhet Mohanagar police said: “The drives to evict the footpaths in order to minimise traffic congestion was supposed to be conducted in the month of Ramadan but the drives started after Eid considering the poor hawkers and their businesses.”
“The drive is being conducted considering the advantages of the mass people and it will be continued until all footpaths are evicted,” he added.
