Patia Correspondent: The Patia Hawkers Association has formed a human chain against the mayor in the Patia Municipality of Chittagong. This human chain was held in front of the Patia Upazila office at noon on Wednesday (February 1st).
The speakers said that they had been running small businesses outside the traffic routes of Court Road and Station Road for a long time by taking loans from various NGOs. Recently, Mayor Ayub Babul evicted the hawkers from Court Road and forced them to sit on the pavements of the Kitchen Market in the name of traffic congestion. They are suffering financially as there are no buyers.
Besides, they also said that some young men wearing municipal jackets are beating and vandalizing the goods of these innocent sellers every day. Speakers alleged that despite repeatedly going to the mayor for a solution, he threatened to burn everything. Speakers said there are hawkers in all countries of the world; there are hawkers everywhere, including Bangladesh. I just don’t understand the reason for inflicting such torture on us. The speakers said that they are now in a state of starvation due to not being able to sell properly in the kitchen market without buyers during this rise in the price of goods.
After the human chain, the leaders of the hawker association gave a memorandum to Patia Upazila Executive Officer Atiqul Mamun. After handing over the memorandum, they said that if they are not allowed to do business in their previous place immediately, they will start a hunger strike.
In this regard, Patia Mayor Ayub Babul said a gang in Patia is conspiring against him out of jealousy. He says it is a step to destabilize Patiya. I have permanently rehabilitated the hawkers by removing them from the footpaths and allowing them to sit in the kitchen market. even arranged a raffle draw at the end of the month.
Hawker leaders Azgar Ali and Chotan Nath said: “Those who have rented shops in the kitchen market are not coming. Why do they want to force us?” Because we are poor, it cannot be as we wish.
When I contacted Patia Upazila Nirbahi Officer Atiqul Mamun, he said that the hawker leaders in Patia had submitted a memorandum. We will take a decision on this later with the concerned parties.
Azgar Ali, Sameer Dey, Jahangir Alam, Mujibur Rahman, Bikas Dutt, Md. Raju, Chotan Nath, Madhu Das, Md. Siraj Majhi, Helal Uddin, Monir Ahmad, Shibu Chowdhury, Mojaher Mia, and Abdul were present in this human chain organized against Patia Municipal Mayor. Quddus, Sidul Barua, Pradeep Bhattacharya, Abdul Chabur Ajay Pal, Md. Khorshed Alam, and hundreds of hawkers
