CHENNAI: Irate hawkers opened an old can of worms for the Corporation of Chennai on Tuesday, when they reopened their shops on the platform on South Usman Road. The hawkers spread out their wares on the pavement they had earlier been cleared from, in protest of the lack of space at the alternative site provided to them by the civic body.A long standing issue which is now pending in the courts, the relocation of platform and street vendors has put both the vendors and the Corporation in a tight spot once again. The hawkers held a protest in the service lane on Usman Road, forcing police and Corporation officials to listen to their grievances.“The Corporation had offered to allot space to us at a new complex in Pondy Bazaar because it wanted us to move out of this spot and clear the pavement. We cooperated based on the Corporation’s promise,” recalled B Karunanidhi, general secretary of the Federation of Chennai Metropolitan Small Traders Associations.But the new complex which is to come up in Pondy Bazaar got tangled in a legal battle, and the civic body allotted temporary alternate space for the Usman Road vendors under the new flyover. “We are not able to set up shop there, as a corrupt Corporation official has taken bribes and allowed unauthorised persons, despite having been issued ID cards by the Corporation,” alleged Karunanidhi.If unauthorised hawkers were not a big enough problem, large textile and jewellery shops on Usman Road cordon off space allotted to the hawkers to use as parking spaces, locals alleged.The vendors argued with police and Corporation officials saying even as they waited for their new complex to be cleared by the court, they could not be expected to give up their livelihoods till then. Tempers cooled among the hawkers only after the Zonal Officer held discussions with them and offered to allot space in the nearby Conservancy Lane, apart from promising to evict all encroachments under the flyover, apart from looking into allegations over the corrupt official.
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