Fearing dip in sales, vendors refuse to move to new market

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 29

The district adm4inistration in Srinagar has failed to shift the roadside vendors from Jehangir Chowk and Hari Singh High Street despite turning a parking lot into an exclusive market for vendors.

The parking in front of Khalsa School was shut for vehicles in May last year and turned into a marketplace for vendors at Jehangir Chowk and Hari Singh High Street. The parking lot has been named Medina Market.

The vendors have, however, refused to shift to the market and claimed that it would hit their business as the market would not attract the footfall which they enjoy on the roadside.

For the past year, the decision of the authorities to shut the only public parking in the Jehangir Chowk area and turn it into a vendor market has also caused trouble to many as the area is a commercial hub and houses official complexes, civil secretariat, J&K High Court, Crime Branch headquarters, power development department offices and shopping malls.

In a fresh direction, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan has ordered the Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, to ensure that the vendors along Hari Singh High Street and Jehangir Chowk were shifted to the new market.

The direction was issued at a meeting earlier this week to review traffic management and developmental works in Srinagar city.

The Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, has also been directed to ensure that no street vendor was allowed to run business at Hari Singh High Street and Jehangir Chowk.

The Divisional Commissioner has also directed the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner to provide executive magistrates and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, to provide police assistance in implementing the removal of vendors from the stretch.

The past efforts of the administration to remove vendors from this stretch failed as vendors expressed reluctance to shift to the exclusive market.

Div Comm orders shifting

• The parking in front of Khalsa School was shut for vehicles in May last year and turned into a marketplace for vendors at Jehangir Chowk and Hari Singh High Street
• The vendors have refused to shift to the market and claimed that it would hit their business as the market would not attract the footfall which they enjoy on the roadside
• Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Khan has ordered the Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, to ensure that the vendors along Hari Singh High Street and Jehangir Chowk were shifted to the new market