Makeshift hawker stalls block Dhaka’s footpaths and roads, choking pedestrian movement across the capital. No official management system governs these hawkers, leaving the city without any visible order. Unregulated stalls spring up at will — anywhere, at any hour, in the form of pushcarts or flimsy structures. Their unchecked sprawl is also a major cause of worsening traffic congestion.
The government is now drafting the country’s first-ever hawker policy to impose discipline. The new rules will cover areas under the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). The local government ministry is currently scrutinising a draft policy for Dhaka’s hawker rehabilitation.
The draft text states that it aims to keep footpaths and public spaces freely navigable for pedestrians while simultaneously bringing hawkers under a registration system and carving out designated zones where this marginalised group can trade.
Urban planners have welcomed the proposed framework. A source confirmed that the policy is being shaped in accordance with the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) 2022–2035 for the capital. The DSCC will retain responsibility for configuring footpath designs and hawker zones to match its own requirements and capacity.
The draft policy establishes precise definitions. A hawker is any vendor whose goods are easily portable. The text distinguishes between “holiday markets” — authorised trading at fixed sites on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays — and “night markets” permitted in commercial zones after office hours.
For registration, the city corporation will set up a hawker management committee to issue time-limited smart cards or identity cards. Applicants must be Bangladeshi nationals aged at least 18. The authority must rule on each application within one month, subject to space being available. Hawkers may renew their registration for a stipulated fee; the city corporation will periodically reset both registration and renewal charges. At registration, officials will record the hawker’s trade category, assigned space, stall dimensions, operating hours and the applicable fees in full. A separate fee-paid application is required to switch categories. The smart card will carry the holder’s photograph and complete particulars. Once allocated a spot, a hawker must pay a fixed monthly toll.
The draft bars any hawker from encroaching beyond their designated space and empowers the corporation to revoke the licence of anyone who breaches the rule. The full list of registered hawkers will be published on the city corporation’s website.
On site allocation, the corporation must first carry out an area-wise survey of hawker numbers. Stalls will be permitted only on roads and footpaths where at least five to six feet of unobstructed pedestrian passage remains after they are set up. Inner roads must take priority over main roads. All hawker sites must be placed at least 20 to 30 feet from metro stations, bus stations and major intersections to prevent congestion.
Holiday and night markets must operate only where they will not obstruct pedestrians or vehicles. Disabled people and women receive priority for these pitches. Holiday markets will run from 7 am to 5 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays, setting up on wide roads outside government offices, on forecourts of educational institutions, or in open spaces designated by the city corporation. Night markets will operate in commercial zones after office hours, from 5:30 pm to 10 pm.
A single household may hold only one licence. The registered hawker must trade in person; the assigned spot cannot be sublet or transferred. Hawkers must carry their smart card at all times, are forbidden from building any permanent structure, and must bring in their goods each day and remove them completely at closing time. Once allocated a fixed pitch, a hawker will not be classed as mobile.
On evictions, the draft stipulates that if the city corporation declares an area hawker-free, licence holders must vacate within 30 days’ notice. The corporation will evict unlicensed hawkers without notice. Confiscated goods may be reclaimed through an application within a specified period.
Experts warn that simply cancelling licences or imposing fines will not restore order. They say the authorities must also target the syndicates that illegally provide hawkers with pavement space.
Dr Adil Muhammed Khan, executive director of the Institute of Planning and Development (IPD), told Bonik Barta: “It is encouraging that the country is getting its first hawker policy, but our demand is that action also be taken against those who control the hawkers. The people who collect daily and monthly extortion money from them must face exemplary punishment. Without catching them, the hawkers can’t be brought under the law. The syndicate must be dismantled and those involved brought to justice.”
An eight-member central hawker management committee will be established under the policy. It will comprise the city corporation’s chief executive officer, chief engineer, chief revenue officer, chief social welfare officer, chief urban planner, chief property officer, a representative of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police traffic division and a representative of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK). The committee will receive and vet applications, allocate spaces, set fees, discipline violators, rigorously monitor extortion, and prepare area-wise master plans for holiday and night markets.
Dhaka South City Corporation Administrator Md Abdus Salam told Bonik Barta: “We are formulating this policy for hawkers to ease pedestrian movement and restore order on the roads. Hawkers will trade in the city under this policy. But we can’t accommodate all of them. The policy is being drafted around who will get priority and which roads will get priority.”