Hawkers demand a halt to encroachment drive

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, NOV. 28. Hawkers and roadside vendors under the aegis of the Federation of Chennai Metropolitan Small Vendors Associations, have demanded an immediate stoppage of the encroachment drive by the Chennai Corporation.

The Federation organised a protest rally from Memorial Hall in Parrys Corner to the Secretariat, where the small traders presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister's Special Cell. Later, they met the Mayor, Mr. M. K. Stalin and the Deputy Mayor, Mr. `Karate' R.Thyagarajan at the Ripon Buildings to press their demands.

The small vendors based their argument on the fact that the Justice Abdul Hadi Committee had only recently presented a draft on hawking policy in the city. ``It is unfair for the Corporation to embark on an extensive eviction drive now. They should wait till the Committee presents it final recommendations to the High Court,'' the small vendors said.

Moreover, the draft of the committee had not specified any ``hawking zones'' in the city, even while identifying 49 ``no- hawking'' zones. The eviction drive now could lead to confusion later on, they said.

Mr. T.N.Nambirajan, president of the federation, said that the government machinery should look at hawking as a socio-economic problem. Road vendors were serving the middle-class and must not be viewed as any ``nuisance''.

They also demanded that hawking be allowed in the traditional hawking zones such as Purasawalkam, Rattan Bazaar, Evening Bazaar, Luz and T.Nagar and the areas from where roadside vendors were evicted including NSC Bose Road, Panagal Park, Anna Salai and Aminjikarai be restored.

Hawking, the vendors said, was a national problem which had not escaped even the Prime Minister's attention. Recently, the hawking scenario in New Delhi had led the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, to write to the Delhi administration in August to call for a policy reform towards the licensing system for hawkers. He sought to eliminate the scope for rent seeking and harassment by licensing and enforcement officials. He also asked the administration to ``recognise street hawking as a legitimate occupation which help reduce poverty and facilitate their integration into the formal economy.''

When there has been a shift of policy towards the License Raj in New Delhi, which was even endorsed by the Prime Minister, why should Chennai choose the same old path, they asked.

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Section  : Southern States
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