CHENNAI: Even as the nearly 400 hawkers on NSC Bose Road said they are willing to cooperate with the Corporation for their relocation being carried out based on a High Court order, they urged the civic body to provide more space for each shop on TNPSC Road and Muthusamy Road.
The Corporation has currently allotted shops measuring three feet in breadth and four feet in length, while the hawkers want it to be 4 by 5 feet. "The space allotted will not be enough for vendors with carts. They have also marked shops on both sides of the pavement. It will become more congested than the NSC Bose Road and customers will find it difficult to move about," said M Mani, President of Singaravelar Salaiora Sirukadai Viyabarigal Singam.
He said while there were initially 276 shops on the stretch, the civic body enumerated 380 shops and it should verify if all the 276 vendors were allocated spaces. It will take several months to get used to the new place and business to pick up again, he added.
Meanwhile, Sarsa, a hawker, said they have been on the NSC Bose Road for 40 years. "The officials should have started the process of clearing the road only after vendors were settled at the new spots. Both Muthusamy Road and TNPSC Road registers huge vehicular traffic on a daily basis and it won't be any different there," she said.
The corporation is planning to upgrade the NSC Bose Road with parking facilities, to ensure smooth flow of traffic. The officials said breadth of the shops is 3.25 feet and that they are also looking for other places to accommodate them, even near the bus stand, so that bigger spaces could be provided.
"We have ensured that the 276 vendors have been given space. We are looking for others places also so that shops are not allotted opposite each other," said a senior corporation official from the north zone.
Coporation to add parking facilities
The corporation is planning to upgrade the NSC Bose Road with parking facilities, to ensure smooth flow of traffic. The officials said breadth of the shops is 3.25 feet