Vendors under electric transformers go unchecked

Ravi Chandel

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 11

While street vendors continue to run their stalls under the electric transformers, putting their lives at risk, neither the Municipal Corporation nor the Powercom Department seem to be making any effort to shift them.

A number of instances of electrocution have been reported in the city, but these haven’t deterred the street vendors from running their businesses at such spots.

Harbhajan Singh, a city resident, said, “Though the authorities concerned are very well aware that vendors are running their stalls under the transformers, they are not making any move to shift them to other places.”

Jagjot Kaur, another city resident, said, “Most of the time, we avoid purchasing any product from the vendors standing under the transformers due to dangling wires.”

On the other hand, vendors lamented that the authorities haven’t allotted them any place to run their stalls despite having licence from the Municipal Corporation. “We have no option but to run our stalls under the transformers,” they said.

Kishan Kumar, a vendor, said, “It has been long since I applied for the vendor’s licence, but till date they have neither issued me a licence nor allotted space to run the stall. I have three kids and this is the only source of my livelihood. In these circumstances I put up my stall wherever I find a place.”

Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said, “We have issued licences and places to street vendors to sell their stuff. We also issue challans whenever we find a stall put up at a wrong place.”

XEN Gagandeep Singla said, “We carry out regular maintenance of the transformers and even remove the vendors putting up stalls there.”