New vending site in Chandigarh’s Sec 41 drives residents up the wall
Smoke, noise, stench from fish market leaves dwellers of EWS houses peeved
For 76-year-old TS Bhandari living in Sector 41D, the day begins with the stench of fish being sold at the Radhe Market right near his house, courtesy the vendor relocation drive.
The market is among the 112 sites demarcated by the municipal corporation (MC) for relocating vendors here right beside the EWS houses, which has turned into a nightmare for the residents.
“I am not able to get a single moment of peace throughout the day as the vendors keep yelling vegetable prices till late night. They also occupy the entire single-lane road beside our house, leaving us little space to manoeuvre our vehicles," said Bhandari, who has retired as a purchase officer from the Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation and has been living here for the past 30 years.
His grouse is shared by 68-year-old Ramesh Kumar, who is retired from the Haryana education department. “All vendors are using diesel engines to power up their vends, the fumes of which bother us. We will approach the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) to apprise the officials of our situation,” Kumar said.
ISSUE FOR SCHOOL TOO
The market is situated right next to Aanchal International School in Sector 41D, and has created a host of problems for the school as well. A teacher here, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Many parents have complained that young boys and girls get harassed by idle men standing near he school with their bikes. Two teachers have been told to escort the girl students out of the school because they feel unsafe.”
School principal Manju Sood said, “The students are facing a problem. The authorities must consider shifting the vending zone away from the school.”
NOT AS PER PLAN?
President of the residents’ welfare association (RWA) here, Dharam Paul, said, “We had written to the chief architect about marking the sites too close to the market. The latter, in a letter (copy with HT), had written that the site had been marked adjoining the shopping area and the rehri market here. However, the site isn’t beside the market but behind it.”
Local area councillor and deputy mayor Hardeep Singh said he had already briefed the MC commissioner about the issue. “I had approached the MC commissioner twice along with the residents when the markings were made about six months back and recently before the vendor allotment was started. The matter was sub judice in the Punjab and Haryana high court so the vendors can’t be shifted right now, but we have been assured that the vendors will be shifted as soon as an alternative site is marked.”