The sidewalks, commonly known as footpaths, have yet to be satisfactorily freed of the ubiquitous street vendors in the capital. Following successive eviction drives of late, a few busy areas under the two city corporations are found cleared of the menace. Unfortunately, this state of relief has proven fleeting time and again. As soon as an anti-hawker drive frees a pavement, the vendors are found coming back with renewed vigour. In rare cases, some stretches of major footpaths remain free for a longer time. In fact, the pavement encroachers just bide time; it is part of an old ritual. Irregularities and malpractices resorted to by a section of unscrupulous elements in the relevant agencies are to blame for the hawkers' reappearance. Footpath users are made to suffer. Needless to say, the menace exacts a heavy toll on the capital's long cherished urban health vis-à-vis civic amenities. To the embarrassment of the local government authorities, the scourge has begun afflicting the Chittagong city as well.
Problems plaguing the walkways are unique to these roads. In a turn for the worse, a few overcrowded footpaths in the capital have virtually turned off-limits to women. As a result, they are mostly found avoiding the sidewalks and walking along the space running along the main roads. By doing so, they expose themselves to road accidents. Many aged and infirm people are also compelled to employ this hazardous strategy.
To speak forthrightly, Dhaka's pedestrian movement has landed in a situation where the invisibly syndicates of footpath-encroaching hawkers call the shot. They are emerging invincible as days pass by. Or else, the two city corporations in their attempt to free some of the vital footpaths permanently would not be in such a quandary. The power and clout of the illegal hawkers have for some time been nakedly demonstrated in the capital's Motijheel, Gulistan and the neighbourhood areas. Beginning with Gulistan, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) swung into action to make these areas hawker-free after it took office. A link road along with its footpaths had long been occupied by hawkers in Gulistan. After securing the road from the hawkers' clutches and opening it, the corporation set a schedule for the evicted footpath hawkers. As has been seen in the past, following a short spell of its effective working, the schedule began falling apart to finally become non-functional. The roads and footpaths in the above and many other areas are now back to their earlier revolting state.
The two city corporations have launched several drives to keep the sidewalks usable for pedestrians. But they also do not mince words to point out their being hamstrung by financial and manpower crunch. It should not continue indefinitely. Unlike other local government agencies, the city corporations are directly linked to multifarious welfare of the urban people. The recommendation made at a recent conference on Dhaka to strengthen the city's local government bodies by empowering them with adequate funds and power thus warrants a wider focus.