Pondy Bazaar area in T Nagar looked wide and spacious after the
hawkers who were occupying the pavements for several decades, moved to
the Corporation Complex on Wednesday in compliance with the order of
eviction.

All the street vendors have moved their wares into the
new complex, but the shops are not yet ready for operation. Construction
of the interiors is still going on and shop owners expect to have their
stores fully functional in a week’s time.

“All the hawkers were
cooperative and did not create a fuss to move to the new place,” said
Vijayaragavan, an SI at the Pondy Bazaar Police Station.

“We are
happy to move into this new space but we can only assess the benefit
based on the response we receive in the next few months,” said Bukran
Muhammed, whose father is one of the first persons to have set up shop
on the pavement on Theyagaraya Road. Some vendors are skeptic that
customers would not take the trouble of coming into the complex since
most of the shopkeepers thrive on impulse buyers.

While many
shopkeepers were busy getting their shops ready in the first and second
floors of the complex, florists and fruit stall owners who were
allocated space on the ground floor expressed discomfort.

“I have
six persons working with me, but only two can stand inside the narrow
four-square feet of space that was allocated,” complained Murugan, who
runs a flower shop. He added that there was no proper system for garbage
disposal.

Meanwhile, owners of stores on the Theyagaraya Road are
happy that their establishments would gain visibility now that the
pavement is cleared and would be easy to bring in stocks from suppliers.

“The hawkers were good people but their shop was a hindrance,” said a cloth merchant.

While
aged people and residents at Theyagaraya Nagar are delighted about the
spacious pathway, young shoppers feel that Pondy Bazaar would not be the
same without hawkers.