Hawkers demand separate ministry for them!
They are pressing for implementation of their 11-point demand which includes a national policy on rehabilitation and trade licence.
Sultana Rahman
More than 15 lakh hawkers in the city, fear being thrown out of business in repeated police crackdowns, urged implementation of a 11-point demand, including forming a national policy and a separate ministry for them. For lack of a convenient market place, the hawkers have long been left to take up walking space, which forced the authorities to launch eviction drives. The hawkers accused police of grabbing their wares in the name of eviction carried out as a routine work. "If bribed, police give the seized goods back to the hawkers," alleged Haroon, who sells furniture in front of the Teachers' Training College. "They bully us into paying them Tk 25 in bribe. We cannot afford that much, but they don't stop harassing us unless they get what they demand," Haroon added. The hawkers are pressing for implementation of the charter of a 11-point demand, including formation of a separate ministry, a national policy on rehabilitation and trade licence. The hawkers, who are often credited with selling wares comparatively cheap to low-income groups, are also blamed for illegal occupation of sidewalks and blocking the way of pedestrians in the city where 60 percent of people use footpaths to walk. "We have a limited access to sidewalks, as wayside vendors use the footpaths as space for makeshift shops," said Ibrahim Khaled who was picking his way through the hawker-occupied sidewalk to Dhaka Newmarket. The authorities have planned to build a number of hawkers' markets in different areas, as the possession of shops in other markets is beyond their reach. According to Bangladesh Sammilita Footpath Hawkers Parishad, a platform of hawkers, over 15 lakh hawkers have no alternative place where they can run their business. "Most hawkers are day labourers, struggling to stay afloat and trying to help their families out," said Oli Ulla Patwari, president of the organisation. The other side of the issue is that Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) that owns 200-kilometre footpath is responsible for making sidewalks useable for pedestrians and launch eviction drives against the hawkers. The DCC built at least two hawkers' market in Gulistan but has not yet distributed the shops to 'genuine' hawkers. "Getting a space in these markets costs a hawker Tk 2.5 lakh, plus bribes to an influential group to get access, which is all but impossible for them," Patwari said. But a DCC official denied the allegations, saying the DCC tries to make the cost affordable for hawkers.
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