CUTTACK: Days after the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) invited tender for engagement of an agency to collect user fee from vending units at Urban Haat, the members of the Chhatra Bazar Traders’ Association have demanded that the work be entrusted to them. They further threatened of closing down the Haat on Tuesday and Wednesday if their demands were not met.
In a joint meeting convened by the Chhatra Bazar and Kartikeswar Puja committees on Saturday, which was also attended by the vendors and traders’ association members, it was pointed out that engaging an agency would lead to a hike in user fee, which will pose a burden for both the traders and the consumers.
Till three months back, a self-help group (SHG) had been collecting the user fee of Rs 20 per day for each vending unit. But following financial irregularities, the civic body disengaged the SHG and has now floated a fresh tender to engage an agency for the work. The association members complained the sanitary condition of the Urban Haat is in shambles due to lack of maintenance.
The traders demanded that the management of the Urban Haat should be handed over to them. Chhatra Bazar Durga Puja committee president Debendra Sahu said the street vendors and slum-dwellers had been evicted in 2020 to facilitate expansion of the Taladanda canal road.
“Though the slum-dwellers were immediately rehabilitated, the street vendors were not provided a permanent place for vending. The then BJD government then constructed the Urban Haat having 548 pindis which was inaugurated on September 16, 2023. A joint action committee was formed comprising CMC officials and office-bearers of Chhatra Bazar Traders’ Association, which later became defunct,” he added.
Contacted, mayor Subhash Singh said the tender process is in its final stage and the agency which will be awarded the tender will collect user fee from vendors selling vegetables on the Urban Haat premises, towards maintenance and security.
