Red zones off-limits to hawkers

After repeatedly failing to prevent hawkers from taking over the capital's roads, Dhaka South City Corporation is set to introduce a new system, in a bid to reduce traffic congestion.

DSCC will be dividing city roads into three categories -- red, yellow and green.

Red zones will be completely off-limits to hawkers. They will, however, be able to set up their stalls on footpaths and roads in yellow and green zones on conditions based on time and weekday.

At a programme yesterday, DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said hawkers will not be permitted to set up stalls in red zones from next week.

Besides, the mayor said they will start construction of the planned 10-storey hawkers' market on Bangabandhu Avenue. "We will then shift them to the market."

The authorities will start a drive to remove hawkers from the red zones next week, he said.

Md Abu Nasher, spokesperson of DSCC, said their work to categorise the roads is ongoing.

In the last 15 years, different moves were taken, but they did not work.

In 2007, Dhaka City Corporation started "holiday markets", specific markets for hawkers that would be open during the weekends at 20 places in the city. However, that initiative turned into a flop within a few months.

In 2017, DSCC prepared a list of around 6,000 hawkers in different areas and allocated Tk 3 crore for shifting them.

However, this plan failed as well. Evicted hawkers from different footpaths in places like Gulistan and Motijheel returned.

DSCC at that time fixed 10 designated spots for hawkers -- such as Baitul Mukarram mosque area, Segunbagicha, Dilkusha and near Ideal School and College -- for holiday markets. But hawkers did not show much interest, as they wanted more crowded places, said a DSCC official.

Adil Mohamad Khan, former general secretary of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, said in different studies found that the efficiency of Dhaka's footpaths has gone down by 30 percent due to the presence of hawkers.

DSCC's current move can lead to good management, as it is not possible to evict hawkers from everywhere, he said.

Ward-based and area-based hawker management plans are also necessary, he added. There is no form of identification for the city's present hawkers, which is crucial. The authorities will have to introduce biometric identification so that no new hawker can sit anywhere, he explained.

There is a politicised economy based on hawkers and the government will have to look into the matter to make this move a success. Otherwise, no management will work.

Joint Secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon Iqbal Habib blamed the lack of combined planning for the messy situation.

He said occupied footpaths are a major reason behind traffic congestion as pedestrians are often forced to use main roads to avoid crowded walkways.

He also mentioned that more than 40 percent of trips in Dhaka cover a distance of around 1.5 kilometres. So, if the footpaths can be kept free, people would prefer to walk this distance instead of commuting by road.

There are over five lakh hawkers in the country, and each pays Tk 200 to 250 daily to "linemen", who serve as private agents of extortionists, said a hawker leader in Dhaka.