Relief on Mirpur-1's cleared footpaths, alongside rickshaw jams and the loss of local markets

Pedestrians and local residents in Dhaka's Mirpur-1 area have found relief after illegal shops were evicted from the roads and footpaths. Where walking was once difficult, people can now move without obstruction. However, a traffic-jam problem remains on the road, now occupied by auto-rickshaws and lagunas.

On Wednesday (28 October), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Administrator Md Shafiqul Islam Khan Milton led footpath eviction drives in the Mirpur-1 area in two rounds, in the morning and in the evening. At midday, a DNCC inspector for the area also carried out a drive. Since then, the area's roads and footpaths have remained free of occupation.

Visiting the area on Friday (30 October), no illegal shops were seen on the footpaths or roads. Various plants in tubs have been placed temporarily where the illegal shops used to be.

However, the drive carried out to reduce congestion and beautify the road has been largely undone by battery-run auto-rickshaws and lagunas. From in front of the shrine to the No. 1 roundabout, auto-rickshaws and lagunas stand in two rows in some places and three rows in others.

Md Rajib, who travels this road regularly, said, 'Clearing the shops from the footpath and the road here was a very good thing. But the jam is still there because of the auto-rickshaws. They stand even in the middle of the road, whether they have passengers or not. I think it is time to control them now. If these auto-rickshaws can be controlled, the jam on the road will reduce a lot more.'

On the removal of the fruit market that occupied the road, Shihab Uddin said the eviction had created some inconvenience on one side and made movement easier on the other, so his reaction was mixed. He said different fruits were easily available here before, and with those shops gone it has become somewhat difficult to get necessary items close at hand; but walking was difficult before, and now people can move comfortably.

Monirul Islam said clearing the footpaths and roads had made movement easier for people, as the footpaths and roads had become quite narrow before. But people had grown used to the small markets and shops nearby, and with those markets gone they face problems buying necessary items. He said this arrangement to keep the roads free of occupation should be permanent, and markets could be set up at designated places nearby for people's daily necessities.

Pedestrian Monir, describing his own experience, said the stretch of road used to take about 15 minutes to cross, and now it can be crossed in two minutes — a very big convenience, in his words.

Mohammad Nurul Islam has traded rice for a long time at the Mirpur-1 market. He said clearing the main road was right and such an initiative was needed. But in the places inside the market from which shops were removed, some shops for essential goods were needed — especially the fruit section and the kitchen market, which are essential for the people of this area. Mirpur-1 has no separate fruit section, and there is likewise a lack of a local vegetable market. If those two markets are arranged, everything else is fine, he believes.

On the fruit section, Nurul Islam said that in the 1980s some fruit shops first sat under the overbridge. Later the traders moved from there and set up shops at this end. At one time they could have rented shops if they wanted, but as trading on the footpath gave them advantages they did not take shops. Now those have been evicted, and at present there is no fruit shop left in Mirpur-1.

On the vegetable market, he said the kitchen market's vegetable bazaar had been moved from one place to that road, and if it is now removed as well there will be no vegetable market left. There are one or two vegetable shops inside, but they are not enough compared with the need. Buying vegetables in larger quantities requires a market, and buying from inside means excessive prices are charged. With all the outside shops removed, he fears prices will rise further. He said the fruit section and kitchen market should be built at a designated place under the city corporation's own management, not set up on the road again, and would be better run by the city corporation itself rather than handed to the public or an association.

Vegetable seller Md Shah Alam came to the market on Friday as every day, but he no longer has his own shop. Two days ago his vegetable shop was also removed in the eviction drive. Shah Alam said, 'I used to trade at this very place. After that day's eviction I can no longer do business. I have had no work for two days. I am very tense about this. My family runs on my income. If I have no income now, I will face many problems running the family.' He said if they were given space in the underground of Shah Ali City Market, they could set up shops and warehouses there and continue trading; that is the city corporation's own market, it would benefit everyone including him, and they would not have to sit on the road.

Earlier, at the end of Wednesday evening's second round of the eviction drive, DNCC Administrator Md Shafiqul Islam Khan Milton said, 'We have announced before, and today through you we say again — we want to make Mirpur-1 like Mirpur-10. If we have to work hard for another two to four days for that, I am ready to do that work. From tomorrow, if anyone tries to do such a thing again, action will be taken against them by the police.' He added that they would stay in Mirpur-1 until the drive begun there is finished, and the area's environment would be made clean and green.