Wednesday, 27 March 2024 | MANSI BHAMBRI | DEHRADUN
With the Smart City project turning out to be ineffective in tackling even basic issues like traffic congestion in the heart of Dehradun city, the street vendors and encroachments by shopkeepers continue to perpetuate traffic congestion in the city. The authorities recently conducted an anti-encroachment drive to prevent traffic congestion but this has had limited effect on the situation on the ground.
A street vendor Nitish Kumar stated that the authorities always tend to restrict the roadside vendors from installing stalls in the roadside area of the market. However, these vendors have families to support and depend on their earnings to make a living. The recent anti-encroachment drive has made it difficult for them to earn a livelihood. As a result, they have started roaming around the market area to avoid being denied a livelihood by the police, he said.
Several street vendors have expressed their concern about the anti-encroachment drives carried out periodically by the State administration which severely affect their livelihood. In order to cope with this situation, many vendors have resorted to wandering around the market area to sell their products.
A local shopkeeper Asif Ibrahim who runs a footwear shop at Paltan Bazaar stated that the presence of street vendors has affected the businesses of the shopkeepers in the market. Due to the anti-encroachment drive, the vendors started roaming around the area, causing further inconvenience to customers and leading to a decline in sales. This has exacerbated the traffic congestion in the area and has deterred customers from entering the local shops, he added.
Dwelling on the issue, the president of the Doon Valley Mahanagr Udyog Vyapar Mandal (DVMUVM) Pankaj Masson said that the street vendors have significantly affected the business of local shopkeepers. Local shopkeepers bear the cost of goods, services, rent and other expenses and are facing financial losses due to the street vendors who sell products at cheaper rates. “The State administration has conducted anti-encroachment drives several times, but these have not yielded any results. Recently, street vendors have begun wandering around the market, reaching customers first and affecting the local shopkeepers’ businesses even more,” Masson said. He further alleged that traffic congestion and disorder in the market has increased due to these street vendors. He emphasised that the officials must be stricter in dealing with such activities. They must create a special vendor section outside the market area, he added.
