The hawker headache

Street vendors—no one knows how many in this mega city's vast informal economy—have taken over the pavements, and in some cases the roads of the capital. It's not only the arterial streets, even the main roads and foot bridges are not free from their invasion, as pictures of New Market carried in this paper yesterday show. It has become so bad lately that the butterfly effect of a single cycle van, set up as a snack shop, parked illegally on a busy street, can trickle down to alleys shutting down for an entire area for hours. 

The well-made pavement is a distant memory in Dhaka. Many parts of the city never had the luxury of having them in the first place; where they did exist, they have become an irregular procession of broken slabs and fetid little holes. A pedestrian's eyes must always search out his or her foot's next destination. And then there are the hawkers all over the pavements blocking the movement of people. Occasionally, authorities respond, with much noise and hype, to clear out the streets. The vendors, with nowhere else to go, return and, so does the chaos. 

Hawkers cater to a demand. We cannot wish them away, nor can isolated efforts by the authorities rid our footpaths of them. It's more than a mere law enforcement issue. There should be designated areas in the city where they can ply their trade during certain hours. As long as there are vested interest groups, which include local influential people and unfortunately, some unscrupulous members of the law enforcement agencies, Dhaka's streets are not going to be free of hawkers anytime soon.