Traders cry foul as illegal vendors choke Chandigarh markets

CHANDIGARH: Despite claims of regular anti-encroachment drives, Sadar Bazar and main markets of Sector 19 are choked with vendors encroaching on government land and precipitating traffic chaos.
Vendors have even occupied parking lots of markets which already do not have sufficient parking space for visitors.
“The condition of the Sector 19 market has gone from bad to worse.Due to encroachments on passages and entrances of shops by vendors, customers cannot enter shops at all. Many sit in the parking lot, where there is no one to check on them. Scuffles and arguments between vendors and shopkeepers have become routine. We have raised the matter with authorities but in vain,” said Vinod Talwar, president, market welfare association, Sector 19-C. Tilak Raj, additional municipal commissioner, who is heading the MC enforcement wing, said, “We have been conducting anti-encroachment drives regularly across the city and now, we have also started night drives, with special teams visiting different areas on a daily basis to penalize encroachers. The department is repeatedly targeting habitual and unauthorized vendors. We are fully committed to make the city completely encroachment-free and the exercise is being done areawise on a regular basis.”
The civic body authority has gathered data on authorized and unauthorized vendors, who will be resettled in accordance with norms. The architecture department of the Chandigarh administration has earmarked a few sites for vendors along the Sector 19 market and the market welfare association has objected to this.