Panel to take up issue of vendors in core Shimla areas

Shimla, July 1

Displeased over vendors operating from the Ridge and Mall Road, businessmen of the town have constituted a joint committee to demand a ban on such activities in the core areas and removal of unauthorised street vendors.

The committee includes traders and shop-owners of The Mall, Lakkar Bazaar, Lower Bazaar, Ram Bazaar and Sabzi Mandi areas of the town.

Urging the Shimla Municipal Corporation and district administration to look into their demands, the committee said else all shops in the core areas would be closed in protest if the authorities concerned failed to take an action.

Shimla Vyapar Mandal president Sanjeev Thakur said the number of unauthorised street vendors and hawkers had increased in the town, affecting the business of the shop-owners. “To make the matters worse, stalls have been set up at the Ridge and on the Mall, which is not only hitting the business of local shop-owners, but also ruining the heritage of these areas,” he said.

“The stalls, which are being run by traders from other states like Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh are selling various items, including clothes and eatables. Customers, especially tourists, do not visit the local shops like before and as a result local shop-owners are suffering losses,” he added.

Last week, the Lakkar Bazaar Businessmen Association had closed the market, which is popular amongst the tourists for its wooden items in protest against the stalls at the Ridge and mushrooming of unauthorised street vendors and hawkers.