The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Relocation of vendors on near Central

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Relocation of vendors on near Central

J. Malarvizhi

Reluctant vendors shift to Lily Pond Complex

— Photo: M. Karunakaran

RELOCATING: Roadside hawkers’ establishments near Park Railway Station are being demolished on Thursday, as vendors were relocated to the Lily Pond Complex.

CHENNAI: The relocation of vendors near the Central Railway Station, which began on Wednesday, continued on Thursday, with reluctant vendors dismantling establishments on the pavements and shifting to the Lily Pond Complex.

The hawkers on the pavement directly before the station were a disgruntled lot as they had set up semi-permanent establishments with electricity and roofing in the years when they had a free rein.

“Now, we are being asked to move to tiny sections of a pavement with no lighting and hardly any passing customers,” a trader complained. Another vendor complained that he had been given a site next to a garbage dump.

A few police personnel were in attendance but the traders were largely resigned to the move.

Small sections of the pavement next to and around the Moore Market complex have been marked for them.

One section of the wall next to the complex was being demolished on Thursday evening to provide a direct entry into a part of the complex that has been allotted to the vendors.

Much of the space currently utilised for parking by vendors and customers inside the complex is likely to be taken up by the allocations.

However, not all vendors might choose to take up their allotted spots, considering the reduced size of operation and visibility they would be getting here, a vendor said.

A few vendors selling second-hand electrical goods were the only ones that had set up shop on Thursday evening.

The relocation of several hundred vendors to the Lily Pond Complex was among the recommendations of the committee headed by Justice A. Ramamurthi which set Thursday, January 31, as the final date for the process.

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