Avenue-2 Road, C Block, Mirpur, Section 10 of the capital. A battery-powered auto-rickshaw stopped at the water tank area yesterday on Friday around three o'clock. The passengers were two women. One was taking out the rent money from the bag, the other was looking around.
There are no shops, hawkers or itinerant vendors anywhere along the roads and sidewalks.
The surroundings were so empty that they were in a bit of a dilemma whether to get off the rickshaw or not. Because, the place known for so long has taken a different form.
At last the two got off the rickshaw after paying the fare. Going ahead and talking, it was learned that they had come to Mirpur 10 Hope Market to buy clothes. Bought clothes from here in the past too; But the acquaintance came to this place and was surprised to see no sign of the shop. They did not know that hawkers and itinerant traders were evicted from the sidewalks and roads by raiding the area last Wednesday.
The area has a building called Hope Plaza. The market that used to sit on the streets and sidewalks around it for so long was known as Hope Market.
The two women who came shopping yesterday were students. Lives in a student residence in Sheorapara of the capital. One of them is Suraiya Mim, the other is Nausheen Jahan. Hope expressed some regret for not being able to shop at the market. However, they also said that it is good to see the beautiful empty condition of the sidewalks and roads.
Suraiya Mim said, for so long, there was no way to understand that this road is so wide and there are sidewalks for walking on the side.
Nausheen Jahan said, the amount of suffering the residents used to suffer due to the hawkers' shops on the sidewalks and roads, is now understood by looking at the empty space.
After going to the Hope Market area yesterday afternoon, it was seen that there is no mobile shop on the road. The sidewalk is empty. There is no polythene or triple attached to wood and bamboo like a canopy over the head. Pedestrians walk comfortably along the wide sidewalk. The road also looks open. A few kilometers from Mirpur No. 10 roundabout towards Mirpur No. 13 section, the same picture can be seen. Hawkers' shops have been removed from the surrounding roads and footpaths, including the Hope Market.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) started an operation to clear the illegal occupation of the footpath from Mirpur No. 10 Roundabout towards Hope Market at around 9:30 am on Wednesday. At one point there was a clash between police and city corporation workers with hawkers and shopkeepers. Three DNCC vehicles were torched and a police vehicle vandalized in the clashes. Media workers were also attacked.
Later, DNCC Administrator Shafiqul Islam Khan went to the spot around noon. In his presence, floating shops on both sides of the road from Mirpur 10 to Mirpur 13 were evacuated.
Before the operation, the hawkers occupied a large part of the road and footpath of Mirpur 10th Section B Block, B Block Lane 11/1 and 11/2, Baitul Quddus Jame Masjid, Mirpur Adarsh Balika High School and Avenue-2 of C Block. Shops were erected with canopies of polythene and tripel, tying bamboo and wood to the footpath boundary walls. Temporary shops were placed in two to three rows inside the main road. These shops mainly sold women's and children's clothes, shoes, ornaments, cosmetics and other products. There were also fuchka, chatapti and fried food stalls.
Local residents said that the sidewalks on both sides of the approximately 200-meter road from C Block Avenue-2 to Lane No. 6 were occupied. No shops were seen on the ground yesterday. Bamboo, wood and plywood parts of the shop, which was demolished on Wednesday, were found lying.
Farida Begum was walking along the sidewalk with her four-year-old son Afsar. He has lived in a house in lane number 6 for almost two years. Farida said, "Earlier there was no way to walk on this road and footpath. There was a huge crowd of buyers and sellers especially from afternoon to night. Now I can walk freely. The boy is also walking by himself.
Rafiqul Islam, a resident of lane number 11/2 of B block next to Hope Market, said, 'What a pain I was in! And what feels good now cannot be explained. Now I feel peace after leaving the house.
