TIRUCHY: Over 700 street vendors relocated from Teppakulam, NSB Road and surrounding areas are struggling to make a living due to poor customer footfall in the first Deepavali season after relocation.
Over the years, encroachments by shops and street vendors had caused traffic congestion and problems for pedestrians around Teppakulam.
Following a high court order, the corporation declared the Malaikottai-Teppakulam stretch a non-vending zone in November 2025 and shifted vendors to alternative locations through the town vending committee.
As many as 120 vendors around Teppakulam were shifted to a site near Holy Cross College on Madurai Road, while 25 vegetable shops were moved to a multi-level car parking complex on Kaliamman Koil Street.
Similarly, 72 Burma Bazaar shops and 62 Nondi Bazaar shops were relocated to Yaanaikulam ground. Around 125 vendors between the Rockfort Temple entrance and Main Guard Gate were shifted to St Joseph’s College, Poompuhar handicrafts showroom in Singarathope and Fort Station Road.
The vendors said the new locations lack facilities like proper lighting and toilets. They also claimed that poor sales had forced some relocated vendors to return to NSB Road.
They alleged that several vendors without identity cards continue to do business in the non-vending zone, while action is being taken only on those who were forced to come back owing to poor business at the alternative sites.
A Ansardeen, secretary of the Street Vendors Association, told TNIE, “Vendors were struggling due to the lack of facilities and customers. We have arranged generators and made our own arrangements for lighting. However, there is no customer footfall. Normally, we earn Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 a day from around 20 days before Deepavali. As the festival approaches, sales go up to Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 a day. But this year, even close to the festival, we are getting only around Rs 3,000. We are unable to recover our investment.”
A corporation official said, “Some vendors come back claiming that there are no sales at alternative sites. The town vending committee alone has to decide on whether or not to allow the vendors in this zone.”
