Calcutta Reclaims Roads from Encroachers in Major Anti-Hawker Drive

On Wednesday, Calcutta regained a road that had been completely overtaken by encroachers over the years.

It took around sixty minutes for the police to clear the numerous hawkers' stalls from Humayun Place and turn it back into a roadway. After the section had been cleared, Vineet Goyal, the commissioner of Kolkata Police, was one of the first to drive across it.

A common name for Humayun Place is the New Empire Gully. It connects the iconic—now-defunct—Lighthouse, New Empire, and Oberoi Grand theaters on its southern boundary.

Similar drives on other New Market area roadways hijacked by hawkers were promised by a top Kolkata Police officer.

The two main thoroughfares that encircle New Market, Bertram Street and Lindsay Street, are similarly maintained. Hawkers have taken over the sidewalks on Lindsay Street. Along Bertram Street, vendors line the entire width of the street. Additionally, there is nowhere to walk on the pavements.

Goyal observed the roadside hawkers firsthand on Wednesday when he drove along a portion of Bertram Street. Roadside stalls are forbidden by the state government's 2018 Street Vending Rules.

Together with two other senior city police officials, the police commissioner stayed inside his vehicle. He was looking at a strange part of New Market. There are sections with few hawkers and others that are still packed.

Chowringhee Place, which parallels Humayun Place and forms the northern edge of Oberoi Grand, was cleared by the police on Tuesday.

"Humayun Place was such a beautiful place in our early years. The two theaters down the route showed Hollywood films. In Calcutta, there was just one mall: New Market. A man in his 50s remarked, "Walking to New Market was such a pleasant experience, unlike the struggle that it is now."

Around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a sizable squad from the New Market police station came at Humayun Place. The vendors were asked to leave by the police who were stationed across the street.

The street vendors did not object. Both resistance and arguments were absent. The vendors gathered their merchandise, removed the tables, and took down the sticks and rods protruding from their booths.

When the Kolkata Municipal Corporation instructed the hawkers to move from the street in January, citing the Street Vending Rules, they refused to move their stalls to the pavement.

On Humayun Place, the civic authority had painted a yellow line that represented one-third of the pavement's width. Hawkers may set up their stalls within one-third of the pavement width, with the remaining space reserved for pedestrians, according to the regulations governing street hawking.

The police operation on Tuesday demonstrated that eradicating intrusions into public areas requires political resolve.

The push in New Market was one of many such efforts to remove unauthorized booths from the city.

It comes after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's tirade against the police and some lawmakers, claiming their complicity was the reason the city looked so unkempt.

"Police, officials, everyone: a group has emerged. Anywhere free land exists, you are contributing to its encroachment. I am always aware of (encroachments) when driving. The cops are blind. At a meeting on Monday at Nabanna attended by ministers, chiefs of civic organizations, police officials, and top bureaucrats, Mamata had declared, "They have blindfolded themselves."

Hawkers used to solely sit on the sidewalk along Humayun Place, particularly outside the gate of Shreeram Arcade, according to a shop owner in the New Market neighborhood who spoke to reporters on Wednesday. Approximately twenty years ago, a few street vendors began to set up shop on the road.

The population grew steadily until it reached its current level. "The hawkers make it difficult for tax-paying businesses to get access. An older local shop owner claimed that if their interests are not upheld, they are frequently thuggish and impolite to guests.