In what comes as good news for the traders near Kalighat, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation handed over keys to the shop owners of refugee hawkers’ corner today.
The development brought a major relief to the traders of the hawkers’ body, who had been waiting to return to their allocated spaces for four years. With the mega skywalk project leading to the temple at Kalighat kicking off in 2021 along with the construction of the refugee hawkers’ corner, the traders had to leave their spaces near the temple and were rehabilitated at temporary units at Jatin Das Park, near Hazra Crossing. According to the traders, initially they were informed that they would be able to return to the allocated spaces near the temple in about 18 months. However, as the skywalk project took time for completion, their return was delayed by several months, finally ending in four years.
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Local MLA and member-mayor-in-council, Debasish Kumar handed over the keys of the newly-constructed commercial units at a programme this morning. The newly-constructed market is an air-conditioned space with a multi-storey building. A total of 195 traders and hawkers are said to have received the keys of their allocated spaces in the market.
Meanwhile, the KMC is also planning to hand over certificates to hawkers of Hatibagan Market. Following a recent meeting at the KMC headquarters earlier this week, the civic body decided to hand over certificates to around 14,000 hawkers of Hatibagan Market, New Market and so on. Another lot of around 40,000 hawkers would also be distributed in the next phase. Apart from this, the civic body is also considering carrying out an eviction drive to free encroached spaces at New Market after Eid.
