Until a couple of months ago, Ganesan and many other roadside vendors like him on Nanjappa Road were owners selling garments and footwear. Today, a few of them are casual labourers and many others are still on the lookout for jobs.
What has pushed them from the shops on to the road, in misery, is the objection to their setting up shops near the Tangedco office in Tatabad. The Coimbatore Corporation had identified the place for them as an alternative site to set up shops after it ordered their eviction to facilitate the Gandhipuram flyover construction.
Doing odd jobs
A. Abdul Rahman, one of the dislocated vendors, says a good number of 125 vendors were daily wagers - some even making daily trips to Tirupur for work in knitwear industries. Others have joined textile or footwear shops as salesmen using the experience they had gained by selling wares on Nanjappa Road.
Mr. Rahman is into footwear business supplying goods to shops in various parts of the city.
The 125 traders dismantled their shops on Nanjappa Road on March 8 after the Corporation ordered them to do so. They moved their goods to the stretch of road abutting northern compound of the Power House in Tatabad. As they begun erecting sheds, the Tangedco came up with suggestions, says Mr. Rahman.
The traders complied with those suggestions and resumed work. Each of the 125 traders had spent close to ₹ 10,000 on scaffoldings and sheets. When they had completed 70 % work, the Tangedco objected to their presence there saying that they could not set up shops beneath high-tension lines.
They had no choice but to comply, he recalls.
From there, the traders had nowhere to go, rues the association president A. Abdul Muthaleef.
The traders knocked on the doors of Corporation, as it had agreed to comply with a High Court order for providing alternative sites for setting up shops and also passed a resolution in the Council.
After negotiation, the Corporation suggested that they set up shops in Thudiyalur, recalls P. Ramasamy, one of the vendors and association vice president.
The traders were disinclined to go there fearing poor customer patronage. They instead suggested a few places near Tatabad and VOC Park but the Corporation had reservations, he adds.
With stalemate like situation, the traders soon turned penniless and were forced to take up jobs, Mr. Ramasamy says and adds that their 20 plus years experience in sales helped them.
According to the Chief Engineer of Tangedco T. Haldorai, the shops were coming up too close to the sub-station. This was not a safe proposal and hence he had denied permission.
“It was a huge number of shops that would be selling a range of items. If there were to be a problem, it was risky as the shops would be too close to the sub-station,” he said.
Corporation officials were not available for comment.
