Left out hawkers demand stalls at Lall Bazaar

ALL SIKKIM HAWKERS ASSOC PLACES 3-POINT DEMAND WITH UD&HD
GANGTOK, 28 May: The All Sikkim Hawkers Association [ASHA] today marched in strength to the Urban Development and Housing Department [UD&HD], their numbers making a veritable gherao, demanding allotment of stalls to the left out hawkers totaling around 125 at the Kanchanjunga Shopping Complex [erstwhile Lall Bazaar].
Addressing the media, the ASHA vice president, Lakpa Sherpa, informed that in the year 2006, the hawkers and traders of old Lall Bazaar were promised a stall each at the new complex by the department, but after completion of the construction work only 262 hawkers and 225 traders were allotted stalls while 125 hawkers were left without any allotment.
These 125 hawkers possess trade licenses but are operating at Lall Bazaar without any proper stalls. The association representatives, in their meeting with UD&HD officials placed a three-point charter of demands seeking stall allotment orders for the left out within a week, 2002 to be made the cut-off year for the allotment of space or stalls in the complex and the conditions placed by the Gangtok Municipal Corporation or UD&HD on allotments to hawkers be lifted.
Mr. Sherpa iterated that the department, in the year 2006, had promised that stalls would be allotted to the left out hawkers and stressed that until and unless the problem is solved, it will keep creeping up in regular intervals.
At today’s meeting, the UD&HD is informed to have asked the protesting hawkers for the document in which the department had assured allotment to the left out, as claimed by the hawkers.
The association on the other hand has also expressed gratitude towards the GMC Mayor for setting up the vegetable market at Lall Bazaar, which according to them, the GMC accomplished in a span of four days, a task that the UD&HD could not do in the past six years.

Namthang haat to resume after one week lost to hawker protest against stabbing

PURAN TAMANG
NAMCHI, 03 Jan: The All Sikkim Hawkers’ Association has called off its indefinite strike called at Namthang against the stabbing of one of the hawkers by a Range Officer (RO) on 22 December. The decision to lift the protest was taken today following a meeting held between the Association’s Namchi-unit and the Panchayats, officials of the Namthang Police Out-Post, Bazaar Contractor and the local gentry.
The incident triggering the ongoing protest transpired on 22 December when a heated argument between a retired Police Officer of Namthang and a hawker, Bikash Mukhia of Namchi during the weekly haat at Namthang [held every Thursday] ended with the son of the retired Police Officer, Pawan Subba, a Range Officer himself, stabbed the hawker with a knife.
Mr. Mukhia suffered grievous injuries and after preliminary treatment at Namchi, was taken to Siliguri where he is remains under medical supervision at one of the private nursing homes there.
In-Charge of All Sikkim Hawkers’ Association, Namchi Unit, Khusen Chandra Rai, while speaking to this correspondent today, informed that soon after the incident, the accused RO was taking into custody by the Police and the weapon seized.
While hawkers were assured by the Police that strong action would be taken against the accused, the hawkers were agitated when the accused was released on bail two days later. Suspecting the police of going lax, the hawkers protested and decided not to participate in the weekly haat at Namthang until they were assured complete security and convinced that the case had not been compromised.
One haat [of 29 Dec 2011] was lost to this protest, and at the meeting today, the Police assured to provide security to the hawkers, and following the request of the locals to resume the haat, the Association decided to lift their boycott and resume the weekly haat at Namthang, the ASHA Namchi-unit in-charge informs. Mr Rai also informed that the victim is recovering from his injuries at present.
Meanwhile, Police sources inform that the accused was arrested and booked under a non-bailable section and was eventually released after he secured bail from the concerned court. This was explained to the hawker representatives today.
It may be mentioned here that, Thursday is the haat day for Namthang where hawkers from Namchi, Singtam and Rangpo come to sell their goods to the people of the area.