TIRUCHY: There are a total of 5,050 street vendors in the city, the enumeration carried out by the corporation has found. Senior officials said that town planning authorities are assessing the report on the survey completed on March 31 before deciding on the next course of action. The enumeration exercise to regulate street vendors in the city kicked off in December last year.
“We are considering various options to prevent the mushrooming of vendors in some areas but we cannot reveal them at the moment as we want to arrive at such a decision after consulting them. We are trying our best to hold a meeting with the vendors this month itself. In that meeting, we would take steps to form the town vending committee (TVC). The committee would have vendor representatives," a senior official said.
Vendors, however, fear that the corporation would now restrict their presence in prime locations like NSB Road, Nandhi Kovil Street, Singarathoppu, Big Bazaar and other streets near Gandhi Market. Sources said that close to 40% of the city’s vendors are in these areas.
Lakshmi, a vendor at Big Bazaar Street, said, “We operate in streets near Gandhi Market as they are commercial hubs. If we are shifted to interior streets, our livelihood would take a hit.” When enquired, a town planning officer said, “We would have to stop vending in some streets. Such steps would, however, be taken without affecting the livelihood of vendors and our team would prepare plans accordingly. We would present it at the TVC."