Experiments at Beautification of Roadside Food Kiosks in Sector 5 and New Town

For a long time, we have been taking several strategies to deal with food kiosks on pavements on the roads of Sector 5 Salt Lake and New Town Rajarhat. IT offices in both the towns are many and most food shops have grown over the years which are extensively used by IT employees. A rough estimate indicates that close to 2 lakh IT employees commute to the two towns daily and economic food options at lunchtime make the street food economy a thriving enterprise.

So far our strategies have been, and indeed continues to be, as follows:

1. Relocation: Very successfully done in New Town near Unitech SEZ. A one-acre plot was developed adjacent (and this is the key, it has to be close to the present location) to the food shacks. The vendors were consulted from the inception. New stalls, with common dining areas, were distributed to existing owners through a transparent lottery (positioning is important, very much so), and the whole area is managed by NKDA nad a Committee. A showpiece. Took 3 years to operationalise.

2. Food Park: Being planned in Sector 5 with a multilevel car park with ground floor and first floor for relocated food kiosks

I have also been appealing to Corporate Houses to "adopt" food kiosks near their front pavements to look better, in the temporary time frame, and to NGOs to encourage the stalls to adopt fire safety and hygiene norms. However, to show them how this can be done, I've requested NDITA, NKDA and Webel each to take up 2-3 food kiosks on pavements and upgrade the looks.

Here are three examples (two are already in place: contact me on WhatsApp (+91 70031 50189) if you want to see) including one at the design stage:

At New Town: Graphics are being changed

At Sector 5 Salt Lake, near Techno India: Graphics display public interest messages

Design by Webel for Sector 5 Webel Gate Road

We are waiting for the Webel designs to be implemented as well and then refine the experiences and then invite Corporates to consider adopting. All till the permanent relocations happen.
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