DNCC mayor�s timeline to footpath vendors

As part of his plan to set everything right at his Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) area, Mayor Annisul Huq gave a timeline to shopkeepers and vendors to clear the pavements in the next seven days. After a meeting on ‘on the role of businessmen in mitigating the woes of citizens’ with the representatives of shop owners, he sent a stern message to these illegal occupants: if you do not do it by March 10, the DNCC mobile teams would initiate legal action against them. It seems that the two city mayors, particularly the DNCC mayor Annisul Haq, have taken their duties to keep the city clean very seriously. But as far as success is concerned, Annisul Haq has a definite edge over his Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) counterpart Sayeed Khokon. He cleared the illegal truck terminal at Tejgaon and the road beside the Gabtoli bus stand. He is also upbeat about the day to day removing of dirt and filth from his area.
While all these efforts of Annisul Haq are commendable, we must say this about footpath vendors: their situation has to be seen in a sympathetic light. These footpath hawkers and vendors are poor and they need means to survive. Though they do not have legal right to sit in these public places, the state indeed has a responsibility to support these people in their dire needs. This is, however, not to say that DNCC mayor is thus urged to withdraw the timeline that he has given to these poor people; far from it, we actually want the pedestrians everywhere in the capital walk freely and for it all the footpaths have to be cleared.
What we want is the mayor must make a commitment to build several hawkers’ markets in his part of Dhaka city where these poor people can make a living. Moreover, the city dwellers with limited income also need these footpath vendors, because they can buy an item from them at a much cheaper rate than from showrooms or shopping malls in the city. But as far as those shopkeepers—who have encroached upon the footpaths and keep their wares on the footpaths—are concerned, the mayor is urged to become really tough.
The mayor is absolutely right: the shopkeepers have to keep their own dustbins because in most cases they are responsible for the litter that remain strewn everywhere every day. Then it would be easier for the DNCC people to collect them. This is indeed the way to sensitise the city dwellers, besides launching campaign programmes, about the most important aspect of healthy living in a city.              

 

DNCC mayor�s timeline to footpath vendors

As part of his plan to set everything right at his Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) area, Mayor Annisul Huq gave a timeline to shopkeepers and vendors to clear the pavements in the next seven days. After a meeting on on the role of businessmen in mitigating the woes of citizens with the representatives of shop owners, he sent a stern message to these illegal occupants: if you do not do it by March 10, the DNCC mobile teams would initiate legal action against them. It seems that the two city mayors, particularly the DNCC mayor Annisul Haq, have taken their duties to keep the city clean very seriously. But as far as success is concerned, Annisul Haq has a definite edge over his Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) counterpart Sayeed Khokon. He cleared the illegal truck terminal at Tejgaon and the road beside the Gabtoli bus stand. He is also upbeat about the day to day removing of dirt and filth from his area. While all these efforts of Annisul Haq are commendable, we must say this about footpath vendors: their situation has to be seen in a sympathetic light. These footpath hawkers and vendors are poor and they need means to survive. Though they do not have legal right to sit in these public places, the state indeed has a responsibility to support these people in their dire needs. This is, however, not to say that DNCC mayor is thus urged to withdraw the timeline that he has given to these poor people; far from it, we actually want the pedestrians everywhere in the capital walk freely and for it all the footpaths have to be cleared. What we want is the mayor must make a commitment to build several hawkers markets in his part of Dhaka city where these poor people can make a living. Moreover, the city dwellers with limited income also need these footpath vendors, because they can buy an item from them at a much cheaper rate than from showrooms or shopping malls in the city. But as far as those shopkeeperswho have encroached upon the footpaths and keep their wares on the footpathsare concerned, the mayor is urged to become really tough. The mayor is absolutely right: the shopkeepers have to keep their own dustbins because in most cases they are responsible for the litter that remain strewn everywhere every day. Then it would be easier for the DNCC people to collect them. This is indeed the way to sensitise the city dwellers, besides launching campaign programmes, about the most important aspect of healthy living in a city.