City corporations in a fix

Both city corporations have tried but failed to evict street hawkers from occupying footpaths in the city, of late. An investigative report published in this paper portrays a disturbing picture that these hawkers pay up to Tk 3 crore a month to local representatives and some members of law enforcement to ply their trade occupying public space. While authorities deny such a system to be in place, our investigation paints a very different picture. Indeed, the various bodies that represent the thousands of hawkers in the city have told us precisely how much each vendor pays per day depending on the locality.

This probably explains why drives conducted during the day by City Corporation authorities often result in these floating vendors to return the next morning. Indeed, there have been instances where armed hooligans, allegedly belonging to some front organisations of the ruling party were involved in clashes with Dhaka City Corporations (South) on October 25 when an eviction drive was in progress.

Needless to say, when "protection" comes from such powerful quarters, city corporations are bound to fail in their efforts to make public spaces like pedestrian walkways free again for the public. With protection money reaching such vast sums of money and where allegedly, a section of the law enforcing agency is also on the take, it becomes imperative that the respective mayors take the matter up with elected councillors and senior administration of the police. No one can be allowed to occupy walkways that are there for public use.