Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 2: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) today removed hundreds of street vendors from city’s commercial hub, Lal Chowk.
The street vendors, who had occupied footpaths, from Regal Chowk to Jehangir Chowk, were removed with the help of police this morning and weren’t allow to re-occupy them throughout the day. The fisherwomen who occupy footpath of Amira Kadal Bridge were also removed and the bridge was cleared for the convenience of pedestrians.
With footpaths being occupied by street vendors, the pedestrians face extreme difficulties and the encroachment also leads to frequent traffic jams in Lal Chowk, which is flocked by thousands of people every day for multiple purposes including shopping. Not only footpaths, the street vendors also occupy portions of roads which also leads to traffic jam in crowded Lal Chowk markets.
However, in the past, it has been witnessed that the street vendors re-occupy footpaths after every clearance drive and SMC officials fail to sustain their drives.
Chief Enforcement Officer (CEO), SMC, Manzoor Ahmad told Excelsior that the clearance drive would continue in coming days and would be intensified to other areas of the city as well.
When asked why SMC is not initiating action against those shopkeepers who also occupy footpaths, the CEO said: “First, we will clear footpaths from street vendors. But then we will also act against the shopkeepers who occupy footpaths in civil lines as well as in downtown areas.”
Meanwhile, the street vendors expressed resentment over the SMC action and said “their lone source of income is being snatched away”.
However, CEO Manzoor said that the Government has no plan of rehabilitation for street vendors. “They are illegally occupying footpaths and there is nothing we can do for them,” he said.
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