Eight months on, Hari Singh street vendors refuse to shift

Umer Ahmad

Srinagar, February 20

Eight months have passed since the state government’s decision to shift the vendors from Hari Singh High Street to a nearby parking lot, but it has failed to do so as the vendors have refused to change the location.

The mismanagement in implementing the decision, which was taken in May last year, has left the busy Jehangir Chowk-Exhibition Road without a proper parking facility.

The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) had changed the make-up of the parking lot on Exhibition Road near the busy Jehangir Chowk and turned it into a vendor market – Chinar Vendor Market.

The vendors, however, refused to shift their base from Hari Singh High Street, where they are doing business for years. The vendors say the shift to a former parking lot, which was located at a distance from the pedestrian population, would affect their business.

Mohammad Ramzan, a vendor for the last 37 years, said the footfall at the new location was quite less and it could not have drawn enough business for them. “The vendor market can’t be successful at a place where there is no public flow. We sell our products to pedestrians and earn to feed our families,” he added.

He said the government had ordered them to vacate the footpaths. “We shifted to the new market but we didn’t get any business. The place seems to be haunted. Also, the SMC has failed to fulfil its promises as we were told that some basic structure will be provided, which was not done to date,” Ramzan added.

“We settled there for 15 days and during that time we did not earn even a single penny. Moreover, all our products expired and we hardly managed two-time meal for our families,” Jan Mohammad, another vendor, said.

The street vendors were provided alternative location following the High Court decision in May last year.

“The government’s decision is not welcomed by any of us... we have suffered tremendous losses previously when we shifted to the other place,” Javid Ahmad, president of Youth Footpath Vendors’ Association of Hari Singh High Street, said.

As the vendors refused to the shift the market, it had continued to serve as a parking facility. However, the facility was closed again last week and the SMC sealed the place.

SMC Chief Revenue Officer Nisar Hussain said the area had been sealed so that appropriate infrastructure could be developed. “The land is allotted to the vendors. We will develop basic infrastructure in the plot and then allot it to them only,” he said.