Hawkers block city road for rehabilitation before eviction

Several hundred street vendors on Thursday blockaded Phoenix Road in front of the Nagar Bhaban to press home their various demands including rehabilitation before eviction from pavements.
The vendors from Gulistan, Motijheel, Paltan and other parts of the city under the banner of Bangladesh Hawkers Union held a sit-in there at around noon.
They said that the Dhaka South City Corporation in cooperation with police started evicting hawkers from sidewalks suddenly in January.
Such drives caused severe damage of their commodities of the vendors, they said.
Hawker Ripon Hossain said that the hawkers were living an inhuman life as they hardly could manage after their lone source of income hampered. 
Hawker leaders threatened the Dhaka South City mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon of waging greater movement against him as ‘he betrayed with the hawkers’.
The union general secretary Sekender Hayat said before election the city mayor promised not to evict any hawkers without rehabilitation. ‘The mayor betrayed with hawkers,’ he said.
The union’s president Abul Hashem Kabir declared that they would hold a mass gathering on April 15 protesting government’s move.
He said that hawkers were living inhuman life since January, 2019, as the city corporation along with police continued evicting hawkers from 
Gulistan, Motijheel, Shahbagh and Paltan.
Later, a delegation of hawker leaders went to meet city mayor at Nagar Bhaban and submit a memorandum. 
DSCC chief executive officer Mostafizur Rahman received the memorandum as mayor was absent in the office.
Kabir said that they request the prime minister for rehabilitating hawkers.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net