Citizens of Sylhet on Wednesday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the city corporation authorities to free the city streets from the illegal encroachment by hawkers.
They issued the ultimatum at a human chain formed under the banner of 鈥楽ylheter Sachetan Nagarik Samaj鈥�, Conscious Civic Society of Sylhet, in front of Central Shaheed Minar at the city鈥檚 Chowhatta intersection in the afternoon to press home the demand.
The speakers at the programme alleged that it had become difficult to move on footpaths across the city because of the street vendors.
There are allegations that the street vendors are involved in providing assistance to different incidents of robberies and thefts that have taken place in the city, they complained.
They said that if the city鈥檚 sidewalks became free of hawkers, incidents of stealing and robbery would be decreased drastically.聽
The speakers at the programme also threatened to launch tougher programmes, including laying siege to the deputy commissioner office, if the footpaths of the busy city streets were not freed from illegal encroachment within 24-hours.
The human chain was attended, among others, by the independent director of the board of directors of Jamuna Oil Company Limited, Saleh Ahmed Khasru, Bangladdesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 Sylhet district joint general secretary Siddiqur Rahman Paplu, BNP鈥檚 Sylhet city unit leader Abdul Wahid Suhel, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal metropolitan general secretray Fazle Rabbi Ahsan, Ali Akbar Raja and, Belayet Hossain Mohan.
