The Tamil Nadu Horticulture Development Agency (TANHODA) has received all round praise for its move to operate vegetable shops from small trucks. However, the complaint from residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) that these trucks bypass their areas are also too loud to be ignored.
On an almost similar note, RWAs believe the Greater Chennai Corporation(GCC) could have brought more mobile vegetable vendors on board.
Complaints of this kind particularly come from RWAs on East Coast Road (ECR) and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR).
A member of the Confederation of Sholinganallur Constituency Residents Welfare Associations says “Our Federation’s WhatsApp group was loaded with enquiries relating to arrival of mobile vegetable shops as none turned up since Monday.”
To cite an example, only on Thursday evening did two vendors show up at CLRI Nagar in Neelankarai, ECR.
“For Neelankarai, three vehicles were dedicated. One service is of the horticulture department and the other two are vendors approved by the Corporation. From Monday, we have been calling them, in vain. While one did not attend our calls, the other two said they were on their way but did not turn up. Then I took this to the notice of a local Corporation official. He gave us a fresh list of vendors and one of them arrived on Thursday. He had only onions and tomatoes,” says Sri Devi Ramakrishnan, secretary, CLRI Nagar Plot Owners Association.
Likewise in Wipro Street, Sholingallur, secretary of Mistral Apartments Owners Association C. Christy, says “Till Thursday evening, horticultural department’s vehicle did not come. We informed an official in the department and he said he would send one on Friday.”
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Residents of Ramapuram and Mugaliwakkam rely on vendors approved by Corporation.
“We learnt that the horticulture department has dedicated a vehicle for Ramapuram. But it has not visited our colony so far,” says PV Kishore, president, Rayala Nagar Welfare Association, Ramapuram.
S Raja, secretary, Kurnji Nagar Residents Welfare Association and A Thirumurugan, joint secretary, KP Nagar Association, both from Ramapuram, point out that Corporation-approved vendors are selling vegetables at an exorbitant price. The Corporation should look into this, they say.
M Murugan, a resident of Mandaveli, says “Bags of various vegetables and fruits should be available readily packed to minimise interaction between customers and seller.”
“Without an adequate number of vehicles at its disposal, the Horticulture Department is unable to ensure sufficient coverage. For example, it can spare only one vehicle for Ward 179 which has around 35 colonies. So, our Association decided to help ourselves. We helped three vendors in our colony get license from the Corporation and made arrangements for the vehicles also. Here, I would like to suggest that our State should consider some of the arrangements in Kerala. There, shops selling vegetables, fruits, groceries, meat, and poultry are allowed to do business only thrice a week with limited business hours,” says S. Kumararaja, president, Annai Indira Nagar Residents Welfare Association in Velachery.
Some residents suggested ways of improving the mobile service of selling vegetables.
“The horticulture department can revisit its last year’s initiative where it developed a website to sell its veggies and fruits. Customers can place online orders and they will be door-delivered. It was a very good idea but for some reason it did not take off. Mainly, there were complaints of technical snags where customers were not able to place orders. If those glitches are sorted out, it will certainly receive good patronage,” says J. Mohaneshwari, a resident of Velachery.
Geetha Ganesh, secretary, AGS Colony Residents Welfare Association, Velachery, points out that some of these vehicles lack speakers, and therefore their arrival often goes unnoticed.
While appreciating the GCC for displaying the list of vendors and their phone numbers in its website, M. Balakrishnan, general secretary, Tansi Nagar Welfare Association in Velachery, points out that more vendors are willing to do business by obtaining the permit from the Corporation but Corporation has made it difficult to obtain the license.
“The vendors are expected to go to their respective Zonal office to apply and collect the license and the Corporation’s banner which they are supposed to display on their vehicles. In the absence of public transport, many vendors are not able to go to the Zonal office. This exercise should be done at the Ward office; and that would bring in more vendors on board,” says Balakrishnan.
Nilesh Shah, a resident of Choolai, says the horticulture department or the GCC should send an SMS to the residents in advance where the message should contain information such as when the vehicle will arrive; the name and number of the driver and the vehicle’s registration number.
