kolkata a section of new town residents living around dlfi has approached police seeking to rein in the hawkers who have set up stalls on pavements in the vicinity and allegedly continue to do business till late at night creating a racket and pollution responding to the complaint police have launched a campaign to ensure the vendors shut shops by 11pm and that they dont play loud musictimesviewresidential areas need to be noisefree and peaceful especially during usual sleeping hours reasonable checks on commercial activity in such zones at night are a fair demandwe have received multiple complaints from residents about outsiders converging on the area at night they claimed attempts were being made to take over the pavements and that vendors cooked in open air without permission worse loud music is being played at odd hours we had once regulated the excesses but things have gone back to precovid period so we have launched a renewed drive said a new town police station officer a senior bidhannagar headquarters officer pointed out the action was being taken following recent meetings with residents and copsresidents also plan to stage a protest and submit a memorandum to the nkda authorities this has been a longpending problem we plan a protest this weekend and submit a memorandum to the nkda authorities said debashis basu a resident of animikha housing complex despite repeated initiatives by nkda to free up pavements rehabilitate hawkers and set them up stalls in designated zones the vendors apparently continue to return to the pavements residents of rail vihar said the encroachment of the footpath off dlfi had already damaged the drainage lines we are the worst sufferers one side of the boundary wall of our complex has been damaged due to the encroachments the hawking causes chaos in the locality till late at night said a resident of animikha housing complex we have no objection to the police steps nkda has been planning to rehabilitate hawkers the police should look into the matter if the instructions are not followed said nkda chairman debashis sen samaresh das chairperson of new town forum and news ntfn an umbrella organization of resident forums in new town pointed out they did not look to evict the hawkers altogether we just want them to close business after 11pm with the stalls staying open till late at night outsiders gather there and that not only leads to a racket but also create lawandorder problems he added the hawkers union however said they kept the stalls open beyond 11pm as many ate there those creating nuisance were outsiders they alleged our stand is that we wont allow any nuisance to occur at the place hawkers here have nothing to do with the outsiders the vendors will themselves alert police if anyone creates racket or problems said hawker sangram committee vicepresident kirtiman ghoshearlier nkda had started accepting applications from vendors who wanted to shift to the new arrangement but the process was put on hold following