Dozens of vegetable vendors staged a demonstration outside the Collectorate here on Monday demanding reopening of weekly shandies across the district.
In their petition to District Collector K. Rajamani, the vendors said that nearly 2,000 families in the district had been affected as the shandies were not allowed for over two months due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
No action
Noting that weekly shandies were being organised in the district for nearly 40 years, the vendors alleged that no action had been taken despite petitioning Mr. Rajamani on May 1.
The vendors staged a spontaneous demonstration outside the Collectorate upon hearing that their representatives, who went to submit the petition, were not given permission.
The police personnel deployed at the spot attempted to control the crowd and asked them to disperse.
“They have allowed operation of Uzhavar Santhais, then why not us?” asked A. Kannan, a vegetable vendor at the weekly shandy in Vellalore.
He warned that many families would be driven to suicide if the ban on shandies continued. No announcement had come from the district administration as of Monday evening, Mr. Kannan said.
