67 vendors at Chandigarh’s Sec 17 plaza served relocation notices

Vendors of the Sector 17 Plaza, who have long been a bone of contention between the municipal corporation and traders, were served relocation notices on Tuesday. As many as 67 notices were served, asking vendors to shift to the Sector 15 vending zone within a month.

However, in first phase, only 170 of the 528 registered vendors will get relocation notices since the remaining vendors have yet to be allotted vending sites.

Vending department officer Vivek Trivedi said that the remaining vendors of Sector 17 were defaulters as they have not paid their monthly vending licence fee on time.

They must clear their dues by November 30 to renew their licence and become eligible for site allotment. If they fail to do so, they will be put in the illegal vending category and be liable for immediate eviction from the site, he said.

When contacted, Neeraj Bajaj, president of joint action committee of Sector 17 traders, said that while MC is giving notices to registered vendors, it has failed to remove illegal vendors from plaza.

“Despite standing instructions from Punjab and Haryana high court for immediate removal of illegal vendors, the civic body has not evicted them. MC must ensure relocation of registered vendors at the earliest,” said Bajaj. He added that the high court in it hearing on October 17, had given a month’s time to MC for the process.

“Our counsel will seek a status report during next hearing on November 19,” he said.

Meanwhile, as many as 50 of the total 125 vendors at Sukhna Lake and Rock Garden have refused to accept MC’s relocation notices. 30 vendors from other areas such as Sector 12, 22 too, have not accepted the notice.

MC enforcement inspector Sunil Dutt said, “MC will soon issue a public notice in newspapers, which will have names of vendors who have not accepted notices.”

“We will specifically mention this, which gives MC the right to evict them from their existing workplace within a month. The deadline will be counted from the day notice was issued against them,” he added.

Since November 6, when MC began serving notices to shift , more than 500 registered vendors have been served the notices.

In first phase, 3,277 vendors served notices have been allotted a site.

A fresh draw of lots for site allotment begins from November 13 in which over 700 more vendors are alloted sites. After that they too, will be asked to shift.

Apart from Sector 17 plaza, on Tuesday, the MC served as many as 105 notices in Sector 19 market, 35 in Sector 41, 32 in Sector 15 and 25 in Sector 23 and 16 markets.

As per notice, if they do not shift to their designated site, MC will seize their goods and impose a fine that may even lead to cancellation of their licence.