Evict & beautify plan for Darjeeling

Darjeeling, Aug. 28: The Darjeeling municipality has decided to extend its eviction drive against hawkers to other parts of the town in an effort to beautify the town and decongest thoroughfares following its success in removing 182 hawkers from Nehru Road.

Amar Singh Rai, the chairman of the Darjeeling municipality, said: “Once the eviction of shops lined along Nehru Road is completed we will start the drive along Orient Line (NB Singh Road) and Paachpanhatta area in town.

GTA chief executive Bimal Gurung wants the municipality to ensure that all the drains in the town are free of encroachment.

Last evening, the Darjeeling municipality evicted 182 hawkers that sell items of tourist attraction from along the Nehru Road.

Although the municipality had yesterday said there were no plans to rehabilitate the hawkers immediately and that they would be given space only after a permanent two-storied construction comes up later, there was a change in plans today.

Gurung today visited Chowrastha and the chief executive along with Rai went to several spots to identify a suitable for immediate rehabilitation of the evicted hawkers.

“In the end it was decided that 60 shops would be accommodated along the stretch of road that connects Chowrastha and Chowrasta Road (near Alice Villa) while the rest can put up along C.R. Road that leads to Bhutia busty. These hawkers have been asked to start construction work from tomorrow,” Rai said.

The two places where the hawkers will be accommodated are not crowded by tourists as much as Nehru Road.

The Nehru Road is the major thoroughfare for tourists going to the Mall.

The chairman said the municipality had decided to beautify Nehru Road.

“We are thinking of keeping chairs along the road. We are also exploring the possibility of lighting up the road and perhaps have little garden lining the road,” said Rai.

The civic chief maintained that the decision to evict hawkers from Orient Line and Paachpan Haat was aimed at providing more space to pedestrians to walk through the streets of Darjeeling.

Residents have for a long time complained about the lack of walking space in the town.

Most of the walking spaces are either taken up by transport syndicates — there are around 53 such syndicates across town, or by hawkers who have slowly come up with permanent structures in many places.(TT)