Town Vending Committee yet to finalise vending and non-vending zones

Town Vending Committee fails to finalise list of vending/non-vending zones due to objections from vendors. GCC Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan chairs 15-member committee. Residents, police object to clean street food hubs in areas like Saidapet. Committee to give 4 wks to remaining 7 zones to identify vending/non-vending zones. To also decide on issuing ID cards to street vendors not enumerated.

The list of vending and non-vending zones was not finalised by the Town Vending Committee on Tuesday as the second meeting of the committee was disrupted by vendors associated with various political parties.

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) was expected to finalise the first list of vending and non-vending zones at the second meeting of the Town Vending Committee at Ripon Buildings on Tuesday. The ward committees of Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Tondiarpet, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Valasaravakkam, and Sholinganallur had compiled a list of vending zones and non-vending zones and sent it to the committee for approval. Owing to objections raised by vendors about the evictions in areas such as Koyambedu, the committee was unable to finalise the list. “The meeting was cancelled,” an official said.

The first meeting of the 15-member committee, with GCC Commissioner J. Radhakrishnan as its chairperson, was held in August. During the meeting, residents in some areas and the police had objected to the proposal of setting up clean street food hubs in areas such as Saidapet. The second meeting was crucial in regulating vending zones as the civic body was expected to start removing encroachers from footpaths and roads designated as non-vending zones.

The committee, at the next meeting, is expected to give four weeks for the seven remaining zones to identify vending and non-vending zones and send it for approval. In the next meeting, the committee is also likely to take a decision on issuing identity cards to street vendors who were not enumerated. The civic body had already identified 35,588 street vendors and issued identity cards to them.