Published: 12:00 AM, 08 April 2016
DNCC Mayor's ultimatum expires Footpaths still occupied
Most of the city footpaths are occupied by the makeshift shoppers and hawkers. The photo was taken from city’s Farmgate area yesterday -Tarik Sajib
Footpaths in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) are yet to be freed from illegal occupation even after the expiry of Mayor Annisul Huq-declared deadline expired on April 3.
The scenario has changed a bit and now the city authority has been mulling to seal the illegal shops. Even the authority decided to conduct mobile courts to seal the shops which patronize the illegal makeshift shops. Besides, the mayor gave directives to the ward councilors to make their zone illegal occupation-free. Footpaths of Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Karwan Bazar, Mohakhali and Farmgate areas were found more occupied while Uttara, Baridhara, Gulshan and Banani areas show comparatively less footways occupation.Mahbubur Rahman took part to several eviction drives as executive magistrate. He said, "Several lanes of Tejgaon area are not pedestrian-friendly, although they are wide and smooth enough. Almost all the walkways of the area are occupied by slums and rickshaw garages. The parked rickshaws make the regular vehicular as well as pedestrian movement impossible. The scenario is common at Gulshan-Tejgaon link road also."Mayor Annisul sat with the shop owners and hawkers association leaders on March 3 at Gulshan Club. He, after discussion, gave one-month ultimatum to remove illegal structures from footpaths. Later, the mayor also met the ward councilors on 27 March at Uttara Community Center. He gave directives to make their respective areas free from illegal occupation.
DNCC Ward-4 councilor Jamal Mustafa attended the meeting. He took steps according to the directives of the mayor claiming that he made many footpaths of his area in Mirpur free from occupation. "However, most of them reoccupied the walkways soon after the eviction drive finished. Now, we are thinking legal actions against those," he commented adding that some poor hawkers and rootless people should be brought under rehabilitation facilities.
Approximately, there are 50 thousand permanent shops built on footpaths at different times making the track totally unfit for the pedestrians. There is record of a large number of accidents while the city dwellers had to walk through the main roads leaving the footpaths. In places the occupants were seen expanding their illegal structures over the main street hampering normal traffic movement also.
Visiting city's Farmgate, Nilkhet, Gulistan, Shahbagh, Motijheel, Jatrabari, Mouchak, Rampura, Elephant Road, Dhaka College areas, full-fledged occupation of footpaths were found. Even the grabbers have been occupying the footpaths of residential areas of Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Uttara. Footpaths in Nilkhet, New Market and Gulistan were seemingly appeared as hot markets with tremendous sales. Hawkers in Gulistan area surprisingly have occupied some of the roads establishing makeshift shops of various items. According to the statistics of an environmental organization named WBB Trust, 44 percent of the city streets do not have any footpath while 45 percent roads have footpaths with illegal parking and occupation. Therefore, 39 percent of the pedestrians do not use the walkways.
On the other hand, hawker leaders questioned where they would go if the evictions continued without any specific plan for rehabilitation program for them. Bangladesh Hawker-Worker Federation president MA Kashem, in the meantime, mentioned the positive sides of their business adding that people with lower incomes can buy their necessary items from the footpath markets. Apart from this, mugging and other crime incidents are less at streets where hawkers run their business, they claimed underscoring rehabilitation programs before eviction.
The scenario has changed a bit and now the city authority has been mulling to seal the illegal shops. Even the authority decided to conduct mobile courts to seal the shops which patronize the illegal makeshift shops. Besides, the mayor gave directives to the ward councilors to make their zone illegal occupation-free. Footpaths of Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Karwan Bazar, Mohakhali and Farmgate areas were found more occupied while Uttara, Baridhara, Gulshan and Banani areas show comparatively less footways occupation.Mahbubur Rahman took part to several eviction drives as executive magistrate. He said, "Several lanes of Tejgaon area are not pedestrian-friendly, although they are wide and smooth enough. Almost all the walkways of the area are occupied by slums and rickshaw garages. The parked rickshaws make the regular vehicular as well as pedestrian movement impossible. The scenario is common at Gulshan-Tejgaon link road also."Mayor Annisul sat with the shop owners and hawkers association leaders on March 3 at Gulshan Club. He, after discussion, gave one-month ultimatum to remove illegal structures from footpaths. Later, the mayor also met the ward councilors on 27 March at Uttara Community Center. He gave directives to make their respective areas free from illegal occupation.
DNCC Ward-4 councilor Jamal Mustafa attended the meeting. He took steps according to the directives of the mayor claiming that he made many footpaths of his area in Mirpur free from occupation. "However, most of them reoccupied the walkways soon after the eviction drive finished. Now, we are thinking legal actions against those," he commented adding that some poor hawkers and rootless people should be brought under rehabilitation facilities.
Approximately, there are 50 thousand permanent shops built on footpaths at different times making the track totally unfit for the pedestrians. There is record of a large number of accidents while the city dwellers had to walk through the main roads leaving the footpaths. In places the occupants were seen expanding their illegal structures over the main street hampering normal traffic movement also.
Visiting city's Farmgate, Nilkhet, Gulistan, Shahbagh, Motijheel, Jatrabari, Mouchak, Rampura, Elephant Road, Dhaka College areas, full-fledged occupation of footpaths were found. Even the grabbers have been occupying the footpaths of residential areas of Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Uttara. Footpaths in Nilkhet, New Market and Gulistan were seemingly appeared as hot markets with tremendous sales. Hawkers in Gulistan area surprisingly have occupied some of the roads establishing makeshift shops of various items. According to the statistics of an environmental organization named WBB Trust, 44 percent of the city streets do not have any footpath while 45 percent roads have footpaths with illegal parking and occupation. Therefore, 39 percent of the pedestrians do not use the walkways.
On the other hand, hawker leaders questioned where they would go if the evictions continued without any specific plan for rehabilitation program for them. Bangladesh Hawker-Worker Federation president MA Kashem, in the meantime, mentioned the positive sides of their business adding that people with lower incomes can buy their necessary items from the footpath markets. Apart from this, mugging and other crime incidents are less at streets where hawkers run their business, they claimed underscoring rehabilitation programs before eviction.
