The Hindu                 16.04.2013

Vehicles, walkers get edged out as vendors jostle for space

Increasing demand to remove encroachers at Vyttila junction.

With the Ponnurunni overbridge expected to be
commissioned in another two months, there is increasing demand to remove
vendors and others who encroach on pavements and service roads at
Vyttila.

Traffic out of gear

Vendors
jostle for space at the junction and at the mouth of service roads,
throwing traffic and pedestrian movement out of gear.

“All
pending works, including the bridge’s approaches and the construction
of the portion over the railway line will be over by June end,” said MD
of Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala A.P.M. Mohammed
Hanish.

Parking curbs

Apart
from widening the Ponnurunni-Vyttila stretch on the bridge’s southern
side, civic agencies and the traffic police will have to curb parking to
ensure smooth flow of vehicles.

Illegal market

Vyttila
– the biggest and busiest junction in the State — has so far not been
swept clean despite the Kochi Corporation’s drive to remove vendors,
flex boards from public places entering its second week.

The High Court of Kerala had recently directed government agencies and the police to remove obstacles for pedestrians.

The
councillor, representing Vyttila Division in Kochi Corporation, Sunitha
Dixon said an illegal mini-market had cropped up along the service road
at Vyttila. An individual owns most of the carts and street shops.

“Similarly,
a host of unauthorised vendors have encroached into the road,
obstructing pedestrians, vehicles and access to a urinal proposed
adjacent to the Vyttila-Ponnurunni Road,” Ms Dixon said.

Corporation assurance

While
promising that vendors and encroachers will be removed from Vyttila,
the corporation has sought more cooperation from the police and the
district administration.

“Kudumbasree outlets and
other shops who pay rent, tax and license fee are affected because of
the proliferation of illegal vendors. By obstructing free movement of
people, the street vendors have become a challenge to the rule of law.

Concerns expressed

“We
have begun using excavators to clear encroachments and flex boards
since there are too many of them,” said K.J. Sohan, the Chairman of
Corporation’s Town Planning standing committee.

He
expressed concern over many food kiosks co-sponsored by the civic agency
operating illegally, away from the places allotted to them.

“Vendors
do not deserve sympathy and do not deserve rehabilitation. Our past
experience shows that they will continue to obstruct road users even if
we rehabilitate them,” said Mr Sohan.

“On its part,
the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) must give us the
sanction to clear weeds and to clean clogged drains alongside the
service roads at Vyttila, since roads get inundated in the rains.”

‘Widen underpass’

Ms
Dixon called upon the National Highways Authority of India to widen the
narrow underpass of the Vyttila bridge since motorists will throng it
once the Ponnurunni bridge is ready.