Makeshift shops occupy Sylhet city footpaths

S A Shofiee, Sylhet  :
Vendors and makeshift stalls have occupied footpaths in many areas of the Sylhet city in the absence of monitoring by the authorities concerned.
Vendors most often set up their shops on the footpaths, hampering pedestrians’ movement and forcing them to walk through roads amid risk of accidents, pedestrians have alleged.
Besides, beggars, floating people and goods of shops occupy the pavements in many areas, causing immense sufferings to the pedestrians.
Sources said the footpaths of Bandar Bazar Surma Market point to Chauhatta, Shubhanighat, Amabarkhana Point, Shibganj and Rikabi Bazar areas are totally occupied by hawkers as they established shoe, cloths, vegetables and fruit shops on there. On the other hand, vehicles parking occupied the roads and footpaths of those places including Subid Bazar point, Pathantola, Madina Market and Tilagar area causing serious traffic jam that consumes valuable times of the dwellers.
It has been a long demand of the dwellers to make the footpaths and roads free of shops and have been notifying this matter to the authority of Sylhet City Corporation (SSC) for many years as most of the footpaths in the city were almost unusable to the locals.
private cars and microbuses arbitrarily on the road sides including the areas of Chawhatta to Rikabi Bazar and Ambarkhana, Subid Bazar to Pathantola creating a long tailback in the city mostly in evening.
Ziaur Rahman , an Dargagate local, said that most of the spaces of the roads and footpaths of the busiest parts in the city were occupied by makeshift shops and cars, CNGs and auto-rickshaws creating unbearable suffering to commuters in the peak hours.
Samiya Rahman a banker of the Zindabazar area, said like many other problems walking on the footpath has become hazardous as small traders run their business freely on the footpath. Every day she uses footpath and faces bad experiences but she seen no way out of the problem.
Shamim Ahmad, an official of the Taltola area, told that as a city dweller it was his right to walk on the footpath but the authorities concerned have failed to ensure it.
He said walking along footpath with children or elders has become a troublesome job as hawkers and even motor bikers sometimes block the road in such a way that it makes the space narrower for the pedestrians.
When pedestrians find the footpath blocked, they become bound to use the main road for walking, which hinders traffic and cause accidents, he added.
Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chawdhury said that these illegal shops were evicted many times, but they came back once the drive was over.