Green Road: Footpaths under the clutch of extortionists

While there are sidewalks on both sides of the road from Farmgate's Ananda Cinema Hall to Panthapath intersection, they are hardly functional.

The six-foot wide footpaths on Green Road route are instead used for tea stalls, rickshaw garages, vegetable shops, and even restaurants, leaving no room for pedestrians to walk. So they walk on the street despite risk of accidents.

A section of ruling party men are involved behind illegally occupying the footpaths, and the law enforcers continue to turn a blind eye.

Usually, over 300 rickshaws remain parked on the sidewalks beside the 800-metre road.

To get the "parking privilege" on sidewalks, every rickshaw owner must pay Tk 20 per day to a "linemen," a rickshaw puller told The Daily Star. The "parking charge" varies depending on multiple factors.

For example, an owner having 30 rickshaws need to pay Tk 500 daily for the "facility".

It requires further negotiations if anyone wants to keep over 30 rickshaws.

The linemen receives around Tk 6,000 daily as payment from the rickshaw owners.

While the rickshaws cover majority of the sidewalks, small tea stalls or makeshift eateries make up the remaining vacant space.

During a visit to the area, this correspondent talked with a restaurant owner, posing as someone who's looking to set up a new eatery there.

The restaurant owner refused to help at first, but later said he could only help if the correspondent agreed to open a tea stall instead of a restaurant.

"Setting up a shop in the area requires making an initial payment -- ranging from Tk 20,000 to 25,000 -- to the linemen. Once set up, a daily payment has to be made, ranging from Tk 300 to Tk 400," said the restaurant owner.

Besides, there are additional fees like Tk 30 for streetlight connections, Tk 10 to Tk 20 for police, and a weekly payment of Tk 1,000, said a tea stall owner on the road.

This newspaper found at least 30 restaurants and tea stalls on the sidewalks of the road as of March 28. As per a rough estimate, the linemen collect at least Tk 10,500 from tea stalls daily.

When asked whom to communicate with to set up a new stall on the footpath, all the vendors pointed towards a person named Sohel.

According to locals, Sohel collects these fees daily while also operating a makeshift eatery himself. There is also a guard, Ripon, who deals with the security issues.

Some of the rickshaw pullers and restaurant owners said local Awami League men facilitate this "special arrangement" and coordinate with Sohel and Ripon.

The Daily Star tried to communicate with Sohel, but he could not be reached for comment.

Mutakabbir Ahmed, zonal executive officer of Dhaka North City Corporation, told this newspaper, "We take action regularly. But the footpaths get re-occupied again soon after the drives. It keeps going on in circles."

"We will take action again to clear the road and footpaths shortly," he said.

Regarding the involvement of AL men and police behind the occupancy, Mutakabbir said he does not have any idea about it, but DNCC officials are not involved.

Shamim Hassan, councillor of Ward-26, admitted that some AL men are behind this illegal occupation.

"But I will visit the spot and try to take action within a few days to free the footpaths," Shamim told The Daily Star.

Mohammad Mohsin, officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station, however, said he is not aware and has no details of the status quo.

"We will look into the issue and take necessary steps," he added.