COIMBATORE: The demand for regulating street vendors is growing louder day by day, but the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) is yet to identify and earmark vending zones in the city which has resulted in encroachment of roads affecting movement of vehicles and pedestrians.
The city’s Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) corridors, which were developed under the Smart City Project to promote safer pedestrian movement and cycling, have been taken over by street vendors and hawkers. “We’ve been waiting for several months for the corporation to act on its promise to create specific vending zones, but nothing has happened. It’s becoming very difficult for us to earn a living without facing complaints from pedestrians and police,” said K Ravi, a street vendor near Gandhipuram. “If there were proper zones, we could sell without fear, and people would have space to walk.”
While the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has formed a Town Vending Committee to regulate street vendors and demarcate vending zones and non-vending zones, the CCMC has yet to take such measures. According to sources, the CCMC assured vendors and traders that vending and non-vending zones would be identified in the city. However, no progress has been made in that direction.
“The situation is frustrating for pedestrians,” said R Malavika, a resident of Ram Nagar. “We are forced to walk on the road because the footpaths are occupied by vendors. The authorities must take swift action to regulate the vendors.”
Police officers are also grappling with the challenges of managing street vendors. Without designated zones, law enforcement and traffic management has become a huge challenge daily for them. With space on roads shrinking due to ongoing infrastructure work, vendors and general public look up to the CCMC, which must balance the needs of small traders with the broader goal of maintaining public order and safety.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran said, “Currently, we have issued town vending identity cards to street vendors across the city and have also provided with financial assistance to the traders. We shall be setting up a town vending committee and identify and earmark the vending and non-vending zones soon.”