Kolkata: The dismantling of all three hawkers’ union offices around New Market marked the transition of hawkers from the Trinamool fold to BJP, and the return of full-fledged hawking in the shopping zone on Thursday.While the bulldozing of the hawkers’ union office on Hogg Street on Tuesday night grabbed eyeballs, two other offices in the area — set up on the pavement of Charlie Chaplin Square, opposite the KMC headquarters, and on Bertram Street — were pulled down quietly.“These offices were all dismantled on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. However, no BJP union office has come up in their place. In fact, with the space occupied by the union office on Bertram Street now free, a hawker is selling wares there,” said a hawker.Though most hawkers have shifted allegiance to the BJP-controlled hawkers’ un-ion led by Kali Khatik, some who are still aligned to Trinamool were bristling with anger. “The office is still here. We will set it up again,” said a member of the hawkers’ union led by Madan Mitra.While several hawking stalls that had been shut since Sunday reopened on Wednesday, Thursday saw all stalls resume business. Customers, too, returned to Bertram Street, Humayun Place, Lindsay Street and Hogg Street in large numbers.“I was missing the bustle of New Market. I came on Tuesday and was disheartened to see the hawker stalls shut and the streets almost deserted. I returned on Thursday after a friend called to say the stalls had reopened,” said college student Subhasree Dey.Traders inside New Market are, however, not enthused by the development outside and are hoping the new dispensation that promises to be trade-friendly will remove the chokehold of hawkers around the heritage market. In fact, most of them are wary of the Trinamool hawkers’ union being replaced by a BJP union, and the comeback of the hawking menace that they have been battling for years.On Wednesday, functionaries from the SS Hogg Market Traders’ Association met councillor and newly elected MLA Sajal Ghosh. “Over the past several years, we have submitted many letters to KMC, highlighting the challenge posed by hawkers to the market. But they have not resulted in any action. Ghosh, who also raised the issue in the KMC House a couple of months ago and is aware of our plight, said he would take up the matter after the govt is formed,” said association president Ashok Gupta.
