Hawking stalls, kept shut for long under Kolkata Municipal Corporation, could see new owners. Hawking spaces, kept closed or unused for a long period, could be given to another hawker by the Town Vending Committee, informed KMC’s membermayor-in-council for hawkers’ rehabilitation scheme, Debasish Kumar today.
The MMiC was replying to a question raised by one of the councillors of the House, held today. According to Mr Kumar, who is also the MMiC for parks and gardens in the civic body, for a non-food stall, a hawker could use a maximum of 15 square feet and for food stall 24 square feet under the KMC as per the existing vending norms.
Notably, the municipal corporation has recently cracked a whip on the illegal hawkers in Gariahat, New Market and the Grand Arcade. Elaborating on the norms of vending, Mr Kumar informed that as per the 2018 rule of the KMC, street vendors cannot use plastic or inflammable articles in the stalls. “If any hawker uses the prohibited articles, the enlistment of the hawkers for a licence that allows vending rights to them would be cancelled.
The same would be applicable for hawkers, who would try to rent out the space to someone else. If renting a hawking space against any vendors is proved, their enlistment would also be scrapped,” said the MMiC. He also asserted that a hawker cannot occupy more than one hawking space.