Rangpur's Ershad Hawkers Market Lies Mostly Shut: 747 of 1,061 Shops Allotted, No Rent Collected in 16 Years

Of the 1,061 shops at the Ershad Hawkers Market, built at Hanumantala in the Radhaballav mouza of Rangpur city, 747 were allotted, yet most of the shops remain shut. According to sources concerned, no rent has ever been collected for the shops since the market was built in 2010.

The market was built on 2 acres and 24 decimals of land at the initiative of the then Rangpur Municipality. Its construction cost 5 crore 55 lakh taka. The market was named after the late former president Hussein Muhammad Ershad.

A non-refundable deposit of one and a half lakh taka was taken for each shop, and the monthly rent was fixed at 450 taka. But after Rangpur Municipality was upgraded to a city corporation, nobody looked after the market. The allotted shopkeepers did not pay rent, and the city corporation authorities never pressed them for it either.

Because rent was never collected from the start, the Rangpur City Corporation has lost several crore taka in revenue over 16 years. A portion of the allotted shops has also been illegally occupied.

A visit to the site found a few clothing shops doing business at the front of the market. Most of the shops inside are shut. Some shops are being used as warehouses and small factories. The shops or sheds in the open space kept for hawkers are also lying unused.

Traders complain that the market has neither security nor a suitable environment for business. After evening, drug users and gamblers gather there.

Abul Hossain, a resident of the city's Gomastapara, had taken allotments for six shops in the market. He said: 'I could not do business here. Nobody took the rent for the shops either. There is no business environment; shops across the whole market are shut. How would I pay the city corporation — nobody even asked for the money.'

The market's president, Md Ripon Sikdar, said: 'Many people have been financially harmed by taking shop allotments. Some sold their land to take shops, but because there is no business environment, many of them are now doing other things.' He said former mayor Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa had planned to make the market six storeys tall and open up the front space. Discussions and meetings were held on this, but after his term ended, the work did not move forward.

On this, the Rangpur City Corporation's chief property officer, Rubel Rana, said the administrator had inspected the market's overall condition. There is an initiative to decide, in discussion with the legitimately allotted traders and the owners' association, how the market can be made operational. He said those occupying shops illegally without paying the city corporation's rent would be told to vacate. The engineering branch is also working on clearing the area of the unused hawker sheds and on what kind of development is possible there.

The city corporation's administrator, Mahfuz Un Nabi Don, said: 'I have inspected the market. Planning is under way for it.'

Zakir Ahmad, assistant general secretary of the Rangpur metropolitan committee of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), said the city corporation's initiative to move hawkers off the roads is a good one. City residents should support the initiative so that hawkers cannot sit on the roads. In his view, if hawker leaders are consulted and the hawkers are relocated into the market, business opportunities will be created and the city will also stay clean.