Dhaka: Once one complaint used to be heard hawkers occupy footpaths, now there are many who keep on contributing towards making the city’s walkways un-walkable.

Though most footpaths are pitted and shattered, those are occupied by construction materials, littered with garbage, poor lighting and security, and with slopes built by shop and apartment owners for cars use, forcing pedestrians to step down on the road and then up the footpath again.

According to sources at city corporations, all efforts to free the capital’s walkways from illegal occupants and make those walkable over the years have gone in vain due to alleged backing from influential quarters and absence of monitoring by authorities concerned.

Illegal car parking, setting up of small shops or stockpiling of construction materials on footpaths go on as the authorities concerned are reluctant to take the offenders to the task.

A Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) official said illegal occupants cannot be evicted from the footpaths completely for lack of sincerity of law enforcement agencies and influential quarter’s patronage.

He said though the DCCs conduct mobile courts to free the footpaths to facilitate smooth movement of pedestrians but hawkers and illegal occupants reoccupy those after their eviction.

During Ramadan, footpath occupation marks an unusual rise as fruit vendors and iftar sellers set up their makeshift shops blocking the movement of pedestrians. Allegations are also there that law-enforcers take toll from such shops.      

According to Dhaka’s two city corporations, the two cities have around 389 kilometres of footpaths.

But most of pavements along Malibagh to Rampura bridge, Mouchak to Bangla motor via Moghbazar crossing, Satmasjid Road, Mirpur Road, Mirpur-10 crossing to Taltola on Rokyea Sarani,  Indira Road, in front of Farm view super market and Ananda Cinema hall and its adjoining areas, Sonargaon crossing to Hatirpul Bazar, Nilkhet crossing to the Science Laboratory, both Motijheel and Dilkhusa Comercial areas, Gulistan area, Gulapshah Mazar to Sadarghat via Bangshal Road, English Road, English Road crossing to Babu Bazar bridge and most of the areas of Old Dhaka are occupied by grabbers which hampers pedestrians’ movement.

Contacted, Chief Estate Officer of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Khaled Ahmed said the corporation regularly conducts eviction drive against illegal footpath grabbers but the grabbers return to the same place again.

The eviction drive will be become fruitful only when law-enforcement agencies, especially local police, ensure proper monitoring to prevent further grabbing of the walkways, Khaled Mahmud said.

Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader while addressing the board meeting of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority at the South City Corporation Building (Nagar Bhaban) on 28 May ordered the concerned authorities to start eviction drives across the capital to remove the illegal occupants from the roadside areas and footpaths.

Following the directive, the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) conducted a drive on Gulistan streets in the first week of June, but the illegal occupiers returned within hours of the drive.

Contacted, DNCC chief estate officer Aminul Islam said it will its intensify drive to evict illegal structures or makeshift shops from the walkways very soon.

Though there is a law to fine Tk 100 for parking a vehicle unlawfully on footpath under Section 66 of the Dhaka Metropolitan City Ordinance 1976 but the penalty is hardly imposed by the police.

During his investigations, this correspondent found a number of vehicles parked on the pavements at Gulshan Avenue, Motijheel and Dikhusha commercial areas under the nose of traffic police.

Had traffic police enforced the law against illegal parking on the footpaths strictly, the tendency of this unlawful practice would have come down dramatically, said Giasuddin Pinto, a top official of a leading private bank.

Asked about it, Joint Commissioner (Traffic) of DMP Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said traffic police do not tolerate such illegal parking on walkways. ‘We do not allow it under any circumstances...We have been enforcing laws against illegal parking on the footpath strictly,’ he claimed.

He, however, admitted that some such incidents may happen in absence of police.