Fake licences, no masks: Chandigarh residents body complains to UT adviser about veggie vendors
Many are using same permission slip to enter sectors and are also found going into streets which have quarantined houses
The Chandigarh Residents Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED) has written to UT adviser Manoj Parida raising concerns about the entry of unauthorised vegetable vendors into the sectors in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Unregulated movement of vendors who are not screened could exacerbate the epidemic, says the letter.
Talking about this, CRAWFED chairman Hitesh Puri said, “When asked to show licences, many vendors with their vegetable carts who come to our sectors are unable to produce a licence. They are usually seen wearing protective equipment just for the heck of it. Their reusable masks and gloves are not washed. They keep their masks lowered which makes residents nervous.”
Speaking more about the issue, Kuljinder Singh Sra, general secretary of Sector 33-B resident welfare association (RWA), said, “There are around 10 veggie vendors using the same permission slip to enter the sector. Many times they are found going into streets which have quarantined houses, that too without masks.”
The RWA’s finance secretary, Nimit Gupta said he had informed the local police about it but no action has been taken.
Many vendors were using fake licences said Vijay Chakarsal, president of Sector 41-A RWA. “The spellings of words such as vendors is written incorrectly in the licences they show me. They usually come here from Punjab side. I have asked them to stop coming at least until the lockdown is over but they couldn’t care less.”
Kuldeep Singh Gill, president of Sector 21-B RWA said residents there too were facing similar problems. “Police must deploy policemen in civilian clothes to catch these vendors who enter our sector without permission,” Gill said.
Meanwhile, UT officials said all vendors are screened when they come to purchase vegetables from the wholesale mandi being set up at Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) in Sector 17.
Police officials, too, said that vendors were being stopped at nakas in the city and vehicles of those found without passes are being seized. As many as 227 people have been booked for not wearing masks since March 23, police said.