Kolkata: Patience runs out, 50% Gariahat hawkers back ahead of schedule

KOLKATA: More than 50% hawkers were back in Gariahat pavement on Thursday. But according to an agreement with police, June 8 was the official date for resuming business.
According to a hawker union leader in Gariahat, patience ran out for hawkers in the Gariahat-Ballygunge belt after the deadline for resuming the business got delayed from June 1 to June 8.
“At first, we were told that we could resume business from May 27.Later, the date was changed to June 1. We could persuade our hawkers to be patient till May 31. But when that date was changed again, while our counterparts in Hatibagan started their business afresh, we could not stop them from returning back,” said the hawker union leader.
A visit to Gariahat revealed that a large number of hawkers were back on the pavements from Basanti Devi College to Ballygunge AC market and from Golpark to Gariahat intersection. The number of hawkers, however, were much less when compared to pre-lockdown period.
Gautam Das, a hawker who sells sun glasses in Gariahat, expressed satisfaction that he had a good business during the day.
“On Thursday, my sales were much higher than Wednesday. I had no option but to return after more than two months of financial distress,” said Das.
Another hawker, Ashim Dutta, who sits next to Das and sells readymade garments said his sales were minimal. “I could not sell according to my expectation. Customers are yet to come to terms with the gradual unlock. ,” Dutta said.
Dutta also made it clear that he would have to strive hard to sell his wares to feed his family. A section of hawkers, however, played hide and seek when cops from Gariahat came near the spot since they were yet to get an NOC.
At Hatibagan, sales slowly started picking up since Monday, when a group of hawkers resumed their business. “Our sales are registering a slow growth since Monday. We will have to wait for some more days to resume usual business,” said a hawker union leader.
At New Market-Esplanade area, a section of hawkers are gearing up to resume business from coming Monday, said sources.