A stall has been set up on the footpath in front of Basundhara City Shopping Centre in the capital, hindering pedestrian movement. The photo was taken on Tuesday. — Sanaul Haque

Most of the mango bazaars in the capital are illegal as the Dhaka South City Corporation gave permission to only four out of more than a hundred bazaars.
Most of these markets have been set up on footpaths, causing hazards to the pedestrians.
The corporation, however, is not taking any action against these bazaars as most of these bazaars allegedly belong to leaders of ruling party-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The DSCC acting chief estate officer, Mohammad Billal Hossain, also executive magistrate, told New Age on Tuesday that they had given permission to set up these mango bazaars to four applicants.
‘As far as I can remember we gave permission for four mango bazaars in four areas including Dhanmondi, Pathapath and Bata Turning. The other mango bazaars are illegal,’ he said and added that the Rapid Action Battalion and Dhaka District magistrates were conducting mobile courts at these bazaars.
Billal Hossain said they needed more vehicles to operate mobile courts while most of the city corporation vehicles were being used to collect revenues.
‘This is our revenue collecting season and most of the vehicles are engaged for that task. So, we cannot engage another executive magistrate Ananda Kumar Biswas to operate mobile courts,’ the chief estate officer added.
He also said as he was doing the duty of chief estate officer, it was now not possible for him to conduct mobile courts.
These bazaars are placed at over hundred spots such as Rampura, Bhanmondi, Motijheel, Newmarket, Hazaribagh and Kalabagan.
Most of the mango bazaars belong to some Chhatra League leaders while they hand over the spot to businessmen in exchange for big amount.
According to the DSCC, the authorities asked the applicants not to hinder the pedestrians’ walking. But it is not possible to make any bazaar on the footpaths without hindering pedestrian movement.
Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution mobile court on Thursday fined some of shops of these bazaars where they found no chemical-free mangoes.