Hawkers: Let there be light!

After a year-long battle to be relocated to Pont de Paris in Port Louis, hawkers from Desforges Street in the capital are now complaining their new “home” is not up to their expectations. Their main bone of contention– lack of proper light which make trying to do business at night “a shot in the dark”. But help may be at hand.

Municipal Councillor Eshan Juman, chairman of finance committee, has promised that the site will be properly equipped with appropriate meters by next month. After office hours, say the food hawkers, the Pont de Paris does not attract customers.

“People hardly come inside. They just buy food which is available in the front stalls. We are losing patience. The hawkers situated at the back receive few clients. “Our stuff is perishable. We cannot even keep it for the next day as it will get stale. We are making a loss,” said Mr Waeza Fockena, a Briyani seller.

Mrs Huzaifa Emambocus joins the chorus: “I had employed people to work with me as helpers but the way it is going, I am compelled to stop them from working as I cannot afford the cost anymore.”

But Councillor Juman told NEWSNOW that business is not the same during weekdays as it is at weekends. According to him it is “a matter of habit”. The hawkers have to be patient, he says, and gradually people will cometo buy food.

“As for the complaints regarding lights, the municipal council had a committee meeting two weeks back and it was decided that by the first week of May the lighting system will be improved before we face winter.”

He adds that the committee has made the necessary arrangements for each hawker to get a Central Electricity Board metre so that they can customise the lights according to their demands.