Hawkers ‘pay Tk 8.50b as toll every yr’

Hawkers have to pay Tk 8.50 billion every year as toll to different agencies across the country, alleged Jatiya Hawkers’ Federation (JHF) at its third national conference in Dhaka on Saturday. Addressing the conference at the Photo Journalists’ Association auditorium, union leaders said some 500,000 hawkers earn their livelihoods through small trading on footpaths in the city and each hawker or vendor has to pay Tk 50 every day on average as toll to run his business. Chaired by JHF president Arif Chowdhury, the conference was addressed, among others, by union leaders Abul Hossain, MA Quasem, Haroon-or Rashid, Kamal Siddiqui, Himangshu Mitra and Zakair Hossain. The hawkers have long been falling victims to harassment and extortion in running their business, which causes revenue losses to the national exchequer, the union leaders added, according to a news agency.