Barricade@Bhadra to expand, hawkers fume

The first phase of Bhadra restoration project is almost complete and phase two is set to begin soon. However, while the civic body seems happy, the same cannot be said about 500-odd vendors and hawkers from Bhadra to Teen Darwaja.

For the second phase, the area from Karanj police station to Teen Darwaja will be barricaded. AMC commissioner Guruprasad Mohapatra said, “The work for phase one is almost complete and barricading for the second phase is likely to begin by the end of this month.” The AMC has barricaded the area from Bhadra temple to Karanj police station under phase 1, for which the revised deadline was May 2013. “But now, as 95% of the work is over, we are all set to begin the work of phase 2,” said an official of AMC’s heritage department .

Around 10,000 sq metres of area will be blocked for the second phase, covering a distance of around 150 metres. Since the second phase is scheduled to begin shortly, the civic body, in its letter to the commissioner of police on May 23, had requested for police protection.

The AMC official said, “We will barricade the area from Premabhai hall to Teen Darwaja.
The road from Nishant restaurant to Teen Darwaja will be closed for commuters. Vehicular movement from Pankor Naka will be stopped, but people can walk till Teen Darwaja. No vehicles will be allowed from Italian bakery and it will be declared pedestrian zone till the project is over.” The official also clarified that only the hawkers on the road will be removed and not the shops.

Speaking to dna, inspector of Karanj police station, MM Makwana said, “We have started informing vendors and are trying to create pressure on them so that they vacate the place and don’t create any trouble when the barricading work starts.” He added that they have also started videography of the vendors to keep a record in case any ruckus takes place during barricading.

Some of the vendors and hawkers in the area seem to be upset with civic body’s move.
One of the vendors selling lemonade, Majidkhan Pathan, said that they have been asked to move towards Pankor Naka, which already has many hawkers. With the barricading of phase 1, many vendors are already witnessing around 30-40% fall in sales, he said, adding that their sales will drop further by 50-70% after fencing for second phase is done.

Since work on the second phase is expected to be completed by November, vendors believe major festivals like Diwali and Eid will not be good for them.

While some of the vendors are ready to shift peacefully, a few are enraged and determined not to move.

All the 1,000-odd vendors from Pankor Naka to Lal Darwaja are registered under Self-employed Labour Organization (SLO). Speaking to dna, the treasurer of SLO, who also owns a stall in front of Italian Bakery, Iqbal Kaji said, “We’ll try our best to ensure that barricading for phase 2 goes smoothly. Many vendors are enraged while quite a few are ready to shift temporarily.”

Kaji said that when the vendors were removed during phase 1 barricading, the civic body told them that they could carry out their business at the footpath opposite IP mission school. “But a few days later, AMC removed us from the footpath when residents complained that they wanted the footpath to be clear. Because of this, many vendors felt cheated and are planning not to co-operate with AMC,” added Kaji.