COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation's (CCMC) delay in earmarking the vending and non-vending zones across the city has led to a spike in roadside encroachments on the busy roads of the city.
The civic body spent thousands of crores for developing DB Road in RS Puram for a more pedestrian-friendly pathway. But the space has now been encroached by street vendors, resulting in traffic congestion and forcing pedestrians to navigate through moving vehicles.
The 1.8 km stretch of the Diwan Bahadur (DB) Road at RS Puram was converted into a model road under the Coimbatore Smart City Projects at a cost of about Rs 25 crore by the civic body. Earlier, pedestrians used to walk on the 1 m wide stormwater drain platform. Later, the pedestrian pathways were extended by 4 m on both sides of the road under the smart city projects in order to ease pedestrian movement on one of the busiest roads of the city.
However, a few commercial stores have been using the extended pedestrian pathway for unloading goods, displaying their store's products and as parking spots. Some miscreants have also started encroaching on the space for their personal gain and have been parking their push carts on the pedestrian pathway blocking the path for public movement. Social activists have pointed out the illegal encroachments and have demanded stern action against them.
S Vivin Saravan, a social activist, said, "The whole purpose of extending the pedestrian footpath was to ensure that people who visit RS Puram have adequate space to negotiate their way through the busy road. But recently, that has become difficult as many individuals have illegally encroached upon the pathways meant for pedestrians by setting up their pushcarts."
While the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has formed a Town Vending Committee to regulate street vendors and demarcated vending zones and non-vending zones, the CCMC has yet to take such proactive measures.
The traders as well as the police in Coimbatore have been demanding the CCMC to identify and earmark vending and non-vending zones in the city for a long time.
But the CCMC has taken not taken action. Meanwhile, police officials are also grappling with challenges of managing street vendors across the city.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said, “As far as the street vendors are concerned, we have identified the traders and have issued them identity cards. For earmarking vending and non-vending zones in the city, the Town Vending Committee is yet to be formed. So the earmarking work is getting delayed. I shall check with the concerned officials and take necessary action to sort out the issue soon."