GTA assures rehabilitation of Kurseong hawkers

Amitava Banerjee, MP, 8 Aug 2024, Darjeeling: On the heels of Darjeeling, roadside hawkers of Kurseong will also be rehabilitated. Anit Thapa, Chief Executive, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA,) on Wednesday announced that 70 hawkers facing eviction will be rehabilitated in shops before the forthcoming Durga Puja. This was announced by Thapa after a meeting with the hawkers in Kurseong on Wednesday. 

Incidentally, Hill municipalities have launched eviction drives, clearing up congested roads where the public were being inconvenienced owing to illegal roadside stalls. “We will provide one shop per hawker. First the hawkers’ association has to provide us with a list of sidewalk hawkers. 

After that, we will coordinate with the municipality to select locations. If we get suitable land to fit all the shops in one place that will be ideal. 

Else we will accommodate them in two to three suitable locations as per availability of land. We will start work within a week of receiving the hawkers’ list. For now, temporary arrangements will be made. The permanent solution will involve constructing shops at suitable locations. Each hawker family will be allocated one shop.”

 

In Darjeeling too, the hawker impasse of Mall found a solution through the proposal construction of a building above Thorn Cottage, adjacent to Mall, where the hawkers will be rehabilitated. The terrace of the building will be an extension of the Darjeeling Chowrasta, with benches, a children’s park and area for busking. 

Hawkers have already removed their stalls from the road above the Thorn Cottage in Darjeeling. 

“After all arrangements for rehabilitation are made, there should not be a single shop left on the sidewalks of Kurseong market. To make Kurseong, a beautiful and organized town, we all need to fulfill our responsibilities,” added Thapa. Incidentally, the hawkers have been evicted from the Haat-Bazar area of Kurseong.

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/gta-assures-rehabilitation-of-kurseong-hawkers-574915