Mahakal Market hawkers in Darjeeling demand rehabilitation

EOI, DARJEELIJNG, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 : More than 100 hawkers under the banner of the Mahakal Market Hawkers have started a dharna in Chowrasta in Darjeeling, demanding permanent rehabilitation. 

The hawkers had been evicted from the Mall road area below the Mahakal Temple ahead of the G20 meeting in Darjeeling in April this year. 

The hawkers selling mostly woolen clothes, souvenirs and umbrellas were shifted inside the premises of the Gorkha Ranga Mancha Bhawan by the Darjeeling Municipality on a temporary basis, till a permanent location was identified. 

However, the civic body is yet to identify a new location and start rehabilitation work; much to the ire of the hawkers. 

"We agreed to set our shops at Gorkha Ranga Manch temporarily on the assurances that we would get a permanent place. But, six months have passed and no work has started in the place we had been promised to be re-shifted," said Raju Chettri, one of the hawkers. 

The proposed location for the permanent hawkers market is just below Chowrasta, adjacent to C.R. Das road. 

In 2014 a foundation stone was also laid by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the same place for a Hawkers’ Market; but the project did not see the light of the day in the face of opposition from local people. 

"Now the festivals are coming along with the tourist season but no one seems to come and buy from us at Gorkha Ranga Manch. We have no income at all and we cannot celebrate any festival if we do not have money. 

We cannot even afford to pay the school fees of our children," lamented Chettri. Chettri said the local civic body had assured to start work in the proposed identified area within two days. Lal Thami, another shop owner, said the civic body had failed to keep its promise to promote the cause of the hawkers. 

"Officials of the civic body had assured us to install bright lights and banners to highlight our area inside the Gorkha Ranga Mancha Bhawan premise along with a sound system to attract tourists. But that has not been done. Therefore we remain invisible to prospective buyers, unlike in our earlier location at Mall Road," he said. 

Darjeeling Municipality Chairman, Dipen Thakuri said work could not start because of objections from various social organizations and residents. 

"We did start work but faced objections and stopped. However, we are trying to find an amicable solution suited to all stakeholders," he said. 

Thakuri maintained that the hawkers could not be allowed to return to Mall road as there had been protests against it too. People wanted it to be a hawker free zone. 

"The main reason why social organisations were against building a Hawkers' Market down below Chowrasta was that trees would have to be cut there along with water sources originating above Chowrasta. 

“But there are modern ways where we can avoid all these," Thakuri said. The objection from residents against the building of a Hawkers’ Market at Chowrasta and Mall Road seems to be that it is the only decongested area in the hill town available for free morning and evening walks and exercise.