Hanover clamps down on street vendors
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE HANOVER Municipal Corporation (HMC) has renewed its efforts to rid streets of illegal vendors in what it said will be a sustained effort moving across all major centres in the western parish.
The operation, which began yesterday, saw a team of police officers, soldiers and personnel from the HMC’s Enforcement and Compliance Department taking to the streets of Lucea to tackle the mayhem.
Craig Oates, manager of the HMC’s Enforcement and Compliance Department, said the operation, which will move on to other townships across the parish in the upcoming days, is designed to have a threefold impact – help in the fight to curtail the spread of COVID-19, assist in maintaining proper traffic and pedestrian control, and help to regulate and control vending in the town.
“If we can get [order restored], we would be in a position to avoid the community spread of the COVID-19,” explained Oates, as the parish, which has not yet recorded a case of the deadly coronavirus, tries to maintain its record.
“Some of the vendors are so resistant to order that even if the market is airconditioned, they would not want to go in there.”
Oates further explained that a zerotolerance approach would be adopted during the operations as all illegal vendors were duly notified of the operations so they had no reason to be on the streets as there is ample space in the markets.
The compliance officer also noted that markets have been sanitised and systems are in place to have them cleaned continuously during the pandemic.
Oates told The Gleaner that all vendors found on the streets will be ordered to relocate to the markets. Failure to comply will result in their goods being seized and prosecution.