Sanopin

Elevated Food Plaza

I have been to Sector V of Kolkata several times as I live right beside it. This is the home of IT and several businesses both government and private sector. Every time I visit I found it odd that, there seems to be no decent cheap place for employees to go and have lunch or a cup of tea or coffee. Of course there are several multinational brands starting from KFC to Subway. But if it costs Rs 300 - 400 for a sandwich and a cup of coffee, the bill is too hefty for any regular lunch. The solution has been provided by the food hawkers. They built up shanty stalls on the sidewalks and are selling cheap hot and cold food at one tenth the price. Besides they serve variety of food cuisines chowmein, kathi rolls, biriyani, dhosa, plain chapattis, fruits, chats; you name it and they have got it. These places also serve those who are in the service sector related to Sector V, like autorikshaw drivers, rikshaw pullers, bus drivers, car drivers, taxi drivers. As the area also houses many schools and colleges, students are big customer of these stalls. But there is a down side to this as well. The sidewalks are taken over by these stalls and they make the entire place dirty as there is no place to dispose the garbage, water seems to run everywhere. Hygiene is not particularly a mantra in these stalls. Moreover, pedestrians walk on the streets making a mockery of the traffic.

A good solution will be to build food plazas in elevated platforms. There is no place beside the offices and thus the stalls will have to be moved some place where there is enough empty place to house them. Problem with such places is that they will be far from the offices and customers won’t walk 2 -3 Kms for a cup of coffee or any food. A good solution will be to build elevated platforms like the metro rails use or over bridges. The support beams could be on the center of the road. The entry and exit could be using stairs from the sidewalks or better yet from inside some premises with public access. One could take care of regular water supply and electricity in such structures, garbage disposal could be easily designed and permanent sitting arrangements could be provided. A good thing will be to design overhead roof, this could avoid heavy monsoon down pours. Designs of structures could be left to the imagination of the designer who could provide custom designs according need and feel of the place. Thus such elevated food plazas can free the sidewalks for pedestrians, traffic can now move normally, hygiene can now be implemented. All seems to be good but we need to work out the economics of the plan as well. I believe for any plan to succeed one need to completely plan the business cycle and economic cycle. My view is if hawkers are forced to pay for the plan they will just move to next street and customers will follow the cheaper vendors. If customers are asked to pay, they might think what facilities are being provided but if the burden is too much they will not come either. So small and I mean very small like 50 paisa per food item may not be seen as too much for such facility. Distribution of cost could be the key for such plan. But a through planning is needed to avoid any problems such as how will the stalls will be allotted, my contentions is it should be allotted to small hawkers only and specifically not to large companies. This will generate good local businesses. Hawkers should pay a rent for water and space but it should not be more than 200 - 300 rupees per month. Of course, rules and regulations regarding banning of hawkers from the street has to be implemented. As it should be a open space plan it should not bear a large electricity bill. Advertisements could be a key to lowering effective costs passed on to hawkers and customers. Other business plans which emphasize on low maintenance and costs for hawkers and customers should be explored.

All in all it should be a business place that should produce good business for hawkers, give convenience, cheap and good food to customers, and make money for municipality as well.