Darjeeling, 23 January: Chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee today laid the foundation stone for the ‘hawkers’ market’ on CR Das road here.
In a bid to make Darjeeling town cleaner and more beautiful, the CM had earlier instructed the district administration to identify areas where the town’s street hawkers could be relocated. District administration officials, along with officials of the Darjeeling Municipality, had been working to identify the places.
It is learnt that there are around 600 registered street hawkers in the town, who carry out their business under four-five different street hawkers’ associations.
“The project at CR Das road will have a concrete building that can accommodate at least 90 hawkers,” the district magistrate, Mr Punit Yadav, told The Statesman.
However, there are concerns that the new facility may meet the same fate as the one already completed below Chowrasta, where 50 concrete structures were readied almost a year ago. Not a single hawker has shifted there as yet. Hawkers instead are spreading their wares outside these structures or the Mall Road.
“We have time and again asked these hawkers to shift to the new facility, at least on a rotation basis, but they have been defying the orders,” the Municipality chairman, Mr Amar Singh Rai, said.
The Darjeeling Municipality had earlier launched an eviction drive and around 184 hawkers were asked to leave Nehru Road, while around 54 more were evicted from JP Sharma road and NB Singh road.
“The district administration, the municipality and the PWD have identified a few more locations (where the hawkers can be relocated) and these are expected to be finalised soon,” Mr Yadav said.
The project to rehabilitate the street hawkers was one of the key issues raised during state chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee's visit to Darjeeling last year.(SNS)
In a bid to make Darjeeling town cleaner and more beautiful, the CM had earlier instructed the district administration to identify areas where the town’s street hawkers could be relocated. District administration officials, along with officials of the Darjeeling Municipality, had been working to identify the places.
It is learnt that there are around 600 registered street hawkers in the town, who carry out their business under four-five different street hawkers’ associations.
“The project at CR Das road will have a concrete building that can accommodate at least 90 hawkers,” the district magistrate, Mr Punit Yadav, told The Statesman.
However, there are concerns that the new facility may meet the same fate as the one already completed below Chowrasta, where 50 concrete structures were readied almost a year ago. Not a single hawker has shifted there as yet. Hawkers instead are spreading their wares outside these structures or the Mall Road.
“We have time and again asked these hawkers to shift to the new facility, at least on a rotation basis, but they have been defying the orders,” the Municipality chairman, Mr Amar Singh Rai, said.
The Darjeeling Municipality had earlier launched an eviction drive and around 184 hawkers were asked to leave Nehru Road, while around 54 more were evicted from JP Sharma road and NB Singh road.
“The district administration, the municipality and the PWD have identified a few more locations (where the hawkers can be relocated) and these are expected to be finalised soon,” Mr Yadav said.
The project to rehabilitate the street hawkers was one of the key issues raised during state chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee's visit to Darjeeling last year.(SNS)
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you! What's on your mind?