Hawkers will be rehabilitated alongside freeing footpaths in Rajshahi, says administrator Riton

Rajshahi City Corporation administrator Md Mahfuzur Rahman Riton has said the Rajshahi metropolis will be freed from illegal occupation. The drive to free footpaths to ensure citizens can move comfortably and unhindered is ongoing, and alongside clearing them, small traders and hawkers on the footpaths will be rehabilitated in phases, he said.

He made the remarks on Sunday after inspecting several city corporation markets in the Saheb Bazar area of Rajshahi metropolis, aimed at rehabilitating small traders and hawkers evicted in the footpath-clearing drive.

The administrator said footpaths have already been freed at Bhadra, Mohila College Road and part of the area in front of the Medical College. However, footpaths at Lakshmipur, Zero Point, Sonadighi Mor, Railgate, Ganakpara and other areas remain occupied. In his words, whatever needs to be done to free those footpaths will be done.

During the inspection he visited the city corporation's Saheb Bazar Kacha Bazar, the fish market, the meat market, the slaughterhouse and various abandoned shops on the second floor of that market. He discussed with the officials concerned the selection of suitable places to rehabilitate small traders and hawkers.

After the inspection he told journalists: 'I want to turn Rajshahi metropolis into a clean and green city not just in name but in reality. I am working with a plan to reshape the metropolis anew. Prime Minister Tarek Rahman's government believes in work, not just words. As a worker of the prime minister, I too believe in work, not words.'

The RCC administrator added that 89 shops on the second floor of the Saheb Bazar Kacha Bazar and fish market are lying neglected. Initiatives will be taken to review the current condition of those shops and related spaces and make them effectively usable.

Present during the inspection were Rajshahi City Corporation secretary Sohel Rana, superintending engineer Khairul Baker, chief revenue officer Abu Saleh Md Nur-E-Sayeed, executive engineer (development) Mahmudur Rahman Imon, executive engineer (development) Nilufar Yasmin, executive engineer (planning) Jasim Uddin Arju, revenue officer Sarowar Hossain Khokon and deputy chief conservancy officer Selim Reza Ranju, among other officials.