Ludhiana: Encroachments galore as Diwali draws near

Malini, a resident of Model Town emphasising the problem asserted that the city is already grappling with lack of space to park vehicles where with these encroachments it has become even difficult to walk.

With Diwali just around the corner, roadside encroachments by shopkeepers and stall owners have started mushrooming in city markets, causing severe traffic and parking problems for shoppers.

Shops spill out onto the roads as stalls laden with festive goodies line market lanes, obstructing traffic, ahead of Diwali at Jawahar Nagar Camp in Ludhiana on Monday. (Manish/Hindustan Times)

These temporary stalls have been set up in the markets like Jawahar Nagar, Civil Lines, Daresi ground and Field Ganj areas where the vendors have erected tents and temporary counters, encroaching on a significant portion of roads outside their shops.

Malini, a resident of Model Town emphasising the problem asserted that the city is already grappling with lack of space to park vehicles where with these encroachments it has become even difficult to walk.

Gursimran, a motorist shopping in Field Ganj echoed similar sentiments by stating that the traffic snarls are an existing cause of concern in the city which gets worse during the festive season. It is a nightmare to drive through these lanes, overrunning with roadside vendors, he noted.

A shopkeeper in Jawahar Nagar Nitin Gupta said that Diwali is peak season for shopkeepers like us where we set up these extensions of our shops to cater to large crowds of customers. We tried to use minimal space to not create any hindrance to the traffic flow.

A municipal corporation (MC) official associated with the tehbazari wing said that earlier MC used to allow shopkeepers to set up these stalls and also issued challans to the errant vendors but this season, no such permission has been given.

ACP traffic Bansal acknowledged the traffic and parking woes by stating,” We have deployed an additional team of volunteers. We have also extended the duty hours of traffic personnel as residents usually throng these markets during evening time.

We have also identified choke points and instructed the zone in-charges to ease the traffic congestion, he added.