Make evictions work for a change

Dhaka North City Corporation’s (DNCC) recent eviction drive against illegal structures and hawkers in Dhaka’s Mirpur 10 area and the ensuing chaos have again proven a bitter truth: our city’s urban management is marred by unplanned actions and inconsistent implementation. We have seen this script play out far too many times. Sudden drives are conducted, violence erupts, hawkers are temporarily displaced, and soon after, the pavements are occupied once more.

There is no denying that roads and footpaths must remain clean and accessible to vehicles and pedestrians, respectively. However, the individuals who earn their livelihoods on the road are driven by economic desperation. Therefore, those who are evicted must be supported in continuing to earn a living. Stripping an urban poor group of their source of income without offering a viable alternative is a policy destined to fail.

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What is deeply frustrating is the administration’s cyclical reliance on brute force instead of implementation of relevant laws. Just five months ago, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) conducted a massive drive to reclaim encroached footpaths and roads in a number of areas across the capital. However, just 10 days later, many of these were reoccupied by hawkers. According to the Road Transport Act, 2018, no person may obstruct the movement of vehicles or pedestrians by keeping vehicle parts, materials, setting up shops, or placing other articles on any highway, road, footpath, overpass, or underpass. So why are these rules and laws not implemented consistently?

Furthermore, how are hawkers able to block footpaths in the first place? It is widely known how local, politically connected syndicates collect massive sums of money from streetside traders daily, offering them informal “permission” to occupy public space. By only targeting the hawkers during eviction drives, the authorities are merely punishing the lowest rung of this exploitative system.

City corporations and law enforcement agencies must abandon their reliance on unplanned, brute-force evictions. There needs to be a holistic strategy that enforces civic rules consistently, dismantles powerful syndicates backing illegal occupations, and also implements a concrete rehabilitation plan for small traders. Only then can we ensure clear footpaths as well as secure livelihoods for the urban poor.