The Hindu : Scheme to relocate hawkers on the anvil

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 28, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Scheme to relocate hawkers on the anvil

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

CHENNAI NOV. 27. A scheme for the relocation of hawkers from the city road-margins is on the anvil with the Committee on Relocation of Hawkers in Chennai asking the Chennai Corporation to identify alternative sites to accommodate them.

The Committee, which met today at the Ripon Buildings, has asked the officials of the Corporation to look for such sites close to the places where they are concentrated.

After many initial hiccups and change of heads, the Committee, now headed by J.Kanakaraj, a former High Court Judge, has asked the zonal officers to identify places where hawkers are found and then look for sites where they can be relocated, with or without consent. The modalities of the process of relocation would be worked out once the alternative sites are identified.

The problem the Committee now faces is the proliferation of hawkers along the city roads. A ballpark estimate had put the number of hawkers and small traders occupying road-margins in the city at over 10,000 and their number is swelling everyday.

"If there were 100 shops at a place yesterday, the number had almost doubled today. The actual number of hawkers to be accommodated at the new sites can be calculated only after another round of inspection," Mr.Justice Kanakaraj told The Hind . "There is no point framing a scheme if it is not implemented," he said categorically.

T.Nagar and Pondy Bazaar are among the most congested commercial areas used by these hawkers. Many of them have also gone to the court and obtained injunctions against eviction. The Corporation officials said that the existing hawkers could be identified and allocated shops at substitute sites. Among the proposed sites is the Corporation land in Panagal Park area which now houses the Pondy Bazaar police station. The officials are now giving shape to a long-standing proposal of constructing a multi-storeyed parking lot wherein the ground floor can be provided for hawkers. Similarly, alternative sites are to be identified for the hawkers on Usman Road.

In Saidapet, one of the most congested localities in the city, the hawkers are to be relocated from Govindan Road, Bazaar Road, Kodambakkam Road, Jeenis Road and Kotturpuram.

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