The Hindu              15.05.2013

Residents welcome eviction of hawkers, encroachers in Ooty

Structures removed on Government Botanical Garden Road.

With the annual flower show just a couple of days away and complaints relating to congestion due to encroachments mounting, the civic administration swung into action on Tuesday.

With the help of the police, they removed unauthorised and makeshift structures in some parts of the town including the Government Botanical Garden Road. Even pushcarts were taken away in a lorry.

Meeting

Pointing out that the problem was getting worse by the day, Municipal Commissioner K. Sivakumar told The Hindu that it had figured prominently at an urgent meeting of the Udhagamandalam Municipal Council (UMC) held here recently and even the district administration had expressed concern.

Stating that steps would be taken to deal with encroachments in various parts of the town, he said that if they come back, appropriate action would be taken against the encroachers.

The move was welcomed by all sections of the society here and the tourists as the rapidly-growing number of hawkers — mostly from the plains — had severely impeded free movement of pedestrians.

Some of the residents regretted that the annual preseason exercise of sprucing up footpaths has been conspicuous by its absence for the past several years and added that the presence of a large number of hawkers had made them eyesores.

It had also subjected motorists to considerable inconvenience as the pedestrians were competing for space on the roads.