Mall gives Kolkata street vendors a new lease of life

Shata Deep, a three-storeyed shopping plaza in Kolkata's Gariahat, is a mall with a difference. It is owned by 100-odd pavement hawkers, who now eke out a living by selling clothes and other housewares.

The experiment, which took almost ten years to complete, is today an example of empowerment of hawkers through land ownership, if not high profits. After being evicted by the city's civic body, the street hawkers got together to share one roof rather than a pavement.

However, the only downside to their current profession is lower margins. "The profits are lower than that on pavements," says Sudeep Pal, the man behind creating Shata Deep.

But thanks to Shata Deep, which comprises 100 shops, these vendors have come a long way. As each vendor has a shop to his name in the mall, it is easy for all 100 owners to decide what they want to do with their part of the property. In fact, a lot of them invest in other ventures to improve their earnings.

Sudeep Pal mortgaged his land in Shata Deep to State Bank of India and took a loan of Rs 5 lakh to start a construction business.

"I have finished construction of a three-storied residential building. From my first project itself, I made a profit of Rs 60,000 (this was after I paid back the loan to the bank). Going forward, I would be able to construct many more buildings and make money," he said.

Sudeep Pal had once wanted to replicate Shata Deep at other busy shopping destinations in Kolkata. But after realising that almost double the amount of money could be made in other ventures, he changed his mind.

"When we used to sell stuff on the pavement we earned Rs 5,000 a day on average. At Shata Deep, we earn close to Rs 3,000 a day on average. This dip in sales is because of the advent of larger shopping malls that give discounts round the year to attract buyers," Pal said.

The mall has given the owners a sense of satisfaction and security which the pavement could never have given.

The history of Shata Deep dates back to 1996, when the state government evicted pavement hawkers and one of them "" Sudeep Pal "" decided to set up a separate shopping mall instead of depending on the state government for an alternate livelihood.

"Although before eviction, the state government had convinced us that it would give us some alternative land, I decided to start something of my own instead of depending on the government," Pal said.

It took Pal two months to gather support and convince 100 hawkers to put in money in the joint venture shopping mall. The idea was to acquire land in Gariahat, one of the biggest shopping destinations in Kolkata, and set up a shopping mall where each hawker could retail.

"So, with the help of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 1997, we identified 8 kathas (one katha = 720 sq ft) of land in Gariahat and bought it for Rs 1.5 crore," Pal added.