Quiet by day, the melee returns after dusk
LMC officials claim encroachments removed but by evening vendors and others there
LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) is yet to come out with a fool proof plan to streamline traffic in Charbagh despite high court orders.
Street vendors who remain absent from the road during the day return by evening, autorickshaws and buses continue to be parked haphazardly between Durgapuri and Charbagh: all due to a lack of monitoring by the authorities. Municipal commissioner Ajay Dwivedi said that only 250 street vendors will be accommodated in the vending zone marked by the LMC with yellow lines. At the same time, space for only 44 autorickshaws has been marked at the stand.
In order to streamline traffic in Charbagh, the LMC had conducted a lottery for street vendors on Thursday which was boycotted by the vendors. Only 10 shopkeepers reached to attend the lottery.
Dilip Gupta, president, Charbagh Street Vendors Association, said, “There are 550 street vendors and LMC is offering space to only 250. Where will the others go? We cannot allow this to happen. The LMC must give space to everyone.”
The street vendors are demanding prime space beneath the Metro bridge which has been refused by the Metro management stating that this would compromise the structural strength of Metro pillars, which cannot be allowed. Meanwhile, Dwivedi also said, “We are exploring action against shopkeepers of Guru Nanak market who have encroached the whole verandah and have extended their shops to the road. Some shopkeepers have even constructed basements which they have extended under the road! Action against such shopkeepers is also being explored and will be taken at the right time.”
LMC officials claimed that encroachments have been removed from the road from Ravindralaya auditorium to the exit gate of the North Eastern Railway but the fact is that encroachments return with full force by evening, when there is no one to monitor them.
Meanwhile, Adarsh Vyapar Mandal president Sanjay Gupta has supported action against the encroachers in the city markets, including in Charbagh. Gupta said, “The street vendors start with a small stall but soon they expand on the whole road blocking the entry of shops. As a result, many shopkeepers have lost sales in Charbagh, Aminabad, Gomti Nagar and Alambagh.”
Municipal commissioner Ajay Dwivedi said, “The LMC will come out with solutions to problems of encroachments soon. At the same time, we will have to address the concerns of street vendors too.”