The Times of India          07.11.2013 

Corporation’s dismal track record worries vendors

Even as many shop owners and commuters welcomed Pondy Bazaar's new look, there was an air of scepticism. Going by the Chennai Corporation's success rate with evictions, the question on everyone's mind was, "For how long?"

In the past, the civic body evicted vendors from E V R Periyar Salai, Central Station, Park Station, Egmore Railway Station and Purusawalkam High Road. The vendors were allotted shops in the new Moore Market complex. New hawkers have taken their places on the same streets. In many cases, the evicted hawkers return. In 2012, the civic body evicted 80 hawkers from NSC Bose Road. They returned in a week. In 2009, the civic body tried evicting around 150 hawkers from Usman Road and moving them to Corporation Lane nearby. The hawkers returned a week later.

The hawkers are also perturbed by the corporation's dismal track record. "We agreed to comply with the court order and move inside the building, but in return the corporation should ensure that others don't set up stalls here," said Sait Sayed Ibrahim, secretary of Pondy Bazaar Hawkers' Federation. They said customers will be forced to enter the complex to shop only if they don't have other options on the streets.

Owners of shops in buildings are scared of cheering too soon. "The number of shops grew through bribes. They may bribe officials again and return in a month," said A Mohammed, who runs a clothes store.

The doubting Thomases could take comfort from one of the corporation's most successful eviction drives in 2008. The civic body cleared 100 fisherwomen from the pavements of Seventh Avenue in Besant Nagar. They closed the market that had been there for more than two decades and moved them to places near Odiamanagar Kuppam.