Even as the advance notice period served by the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation to the street vendors on N.S.B. Road and Teppakulam asking them to move to the designated sites on Old Goodshed Road comes to an end on December 30, a section of the vendors have expressed strong reservation against the move.
Under the banner of Manithaneya Varthaga Nalasangam, a large number of vendors of N.S.B. Road and Teppakulam thronged the Collectorate here on Monday to stage a demonstration.
The protesters raised slogans, demanding that the corporation halt the move.
M.H. Jawahirullah, Member of Legislative Assembly, raised his voice in support of the roadside vendors.
Representatives of MVS under his leadership of him met the Collector Jayashree Muralidharan in the evening and sought her intervention to stop the corporation from going ahead with the proposal.
“The reasons cited by the corporation cannot be accepted. It is attempting to dislodge the vendors without following established practices. It is our livelihood issue. The authorities have not approached the issue from a livelihood angle,” says A. Ansar Ali (32), a hawker on NSB Road.
He added that many of them had been earning meagre amount by selling small articles on some of the busy roads for over 20 years. However, the authorities, instead of safeguarding their livelihood opportunities, were trying to remove. The Corporation, which was supposed to form vending committee, had not taken steps to form it.
Asraf Ali (28) said the area allotted to them on Goodshed Road was sufficient only for about 35 vendors. It couldn’t accommodate 350 vendors. Moreover, there was no rationale in relocating to Goodshed Road, which was not a commercial area.
The vendors said the corporation should allot shops for street vendors at the proposed shopping complex at Yanaikulam in Singarathope. It should give up the move till they were given shops in the shopping complex.
