These four stretches in Chennai to be vending zones

Chennai: Get ready for a cleaner and organised shopping experience as Greater Chennai Corporation's town vending committee has approved four vending zones in the city.GCC will soon streamline shops on the West Avenue Road of Mahakavi Bharathi Nagar in North Chennai, the Pantheon Lane in Egmore, the Park Road in Ambattur and the Second Avenue of Besant Nagar. A total of 150 shops of various categories like merchandise street shops, food stalls and ornament bunk stalls have been earmarked to be kept here. The shops will be placed five feet away from one another. Proper licences, including food safety licence, will be issued.GCC has also prepared designs of vending and non-vending zone boards that will be placed in the areas. Toilets will be built for the vendors. GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said they had begun the enforcement by painting a yellow mark to keep the carts. "All the vendors will be given licences. We have mostly accommodated existing vendors from the streets. Fines will be imposed on the violators who exceed the allotted vending zone numbers in a spot," the commissioner said.On the Pantheon Lane, GCC will allow 50 odd merchandise bunk stalls where curtains, bedsheets and clothing items for women are sold. In Second Avenue, different types of stalls will be allowed.Adyar zonal officer P V Srinivasan said they had identified 45 stalls for the Second Avenue stretch. "There's a mix of eateries, ornament stalls, roadside markets and fruit stalls. We have warned vendors of strict fines if they don't adhere to safety regulations. Strict action will be taken against encroachers," he said. One side of the pavements is likely to be allowed for vending while the opposite side will be for walking.The corporation will be providing carts to vendors under the PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar funds. "We have asked interested vendors to come forward to take the carts. We have around 400 carts ready for use," the commissioner said.After executing the vending zones in the four roads, GCC will move on to execute non-vending zones across the city."I have instructed officials to be ready to remove stalls in one non-vending zone per GCC zone. We will remove all the vendors in the upcoming drive and relocate them to vending zones," the commissioner said. Officials said most vendors are now cooperative as the rent they pay to GCC is nominal compared to the existing hefty costs they cough up to local strongmen to keep a stall illegally.