Hyderabad: Circle-level officials of the town planning and health and sanitation departments of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation are allegedly demanding double the bribe amounts from street vendors following the AP High Court’s orders on “removal of encroachments from pavements”.
Earlier, the vendors, depending on the size of the stall and the area, paid anywhere between RS 500 and Rs 5,000 to the GHMC officials. However, the civic officials are now apparently demanding twice the mamool instead of clearing the encroachments. The vendors, meanwhile, are left with no option but to pay.
N. Hari, owner of Sri Ganesh Stall at Main Road, Alwal, complained, “I have been running the tea and snacks stall for more than two years now. Earlier, I used to pay Rs 500 per month to the GHMC, but in the first week of January the officials demanded Rs 1,500 (RS 1,000 for town planning and Rs 500 for sanitation).
When I requested them to reduce the amount, they asked me to vacate. Another Rs 500 goes to the traffic guards. The other fast-food and pani puri vendors who were paying Rs 1,000 are now being asked to pay Rs 2,500 depending on the location and the space occupied.”
However, the vendors at Parklane, M.G. Road, R.P. Road, Abids, Secunderabad and Nampally railway and bus stations are still paying the original bribe amounts and officers have still not approached them for a “raise”.
Satish L., owner of a fast-food centre opposite Keys High School, Secunderabad, said, “I paid Rs 1,000 more to the sanitation department as water and other domestic waste is thrown on the road from my stall. So far, no one has demanded more. Apart from this, we are forced to provide free food to the traffic guards and whoever comes from the municipal department to save ourselves from harassment.”
While this is the story of thousands of vendors who refuse to budge from the pavements, G.V. Rao, general secretary of Alwal Welfare Association, said, “Following the court orders, the Alwal Welfare Association had asked the GHMC circle office to immediately act against the vendors; however, instead of clearing the encroachments they are demanding more money.”
Next: No major road in twin cities has a pavement to walk on
No major road in twin cities has a pavement to walk on
Hyderabad: Major roads in the Twin Cities such as the Mahatma Gandhi Road, Rashtrapati Road, Sarojini Devi Road, Abids, Rezimental Bazaar, Sultan Bazaar, Malakpet to Dilsukhnagar, Begum
Bazaar and even the lanes leading to the Nampally, Secunderabad and Kacheguda railway stations have no pavements. Pathways even in areas like Sindhi Colony, Shanthinagar, Masab Tank, Padma Rao Nagar, Chikalgudda, Tarnaka and Alwal are occupied by tea stalls, pani puri bandis , fast food centres and even bakeries. The pavement from Chaderghat crossroads to Women’s College is occupied by bikes and there are no pavements along any of the old city roads, which means pedestrians have to walk on the roads.
The main roads and by-lanes leading to hospitals such as Yashoda in Secunderabad, Apollo in Jubilee Hills, Sunshine in Paradise, Niloufer in Red Hills, Osmania General Hospital and several other health care centres, schools and colleges are choked with vendors. One cannot imagine a hassle-free walk at Mahatma Gandhi, Rathifile, Dilsukhnagar, Jubilee, Koti, Nampally and other major bus stops.
Areas such as Kukatpally, Balanagar, Ameerpet, Sanathnagar and Mehdipatnam also have no pavements. The only space where pedestrians can walk on pavements is on the Tank Bund and on bridges.
Pavements are visible only in the recently-developed colonies where residential welfare associations are active. The GHMC, along with Hyderabad traffic police had instructed officials to accord top priority to removal of encroachments on pavements, but residents are yet to see any outcome.
Next: List of vendors unavailable
List of vendors unavailable
Hyderabad: Despite the fact that the AP High Court has ordered the GHMC?to deal with encroachers with a heavy hand, the civic officials even at the circle level do not have a list of the number of street vendors, how many have been removed and how many are yet to be cleared.
Though the court directed the civic body to initiate action under the provisions of the Land Grabbing Act and also under criminal law, no action has been taken yet. The court was acting on a letter by Brig. (retd) Virender P. Sharma to the Chief Justice complaining about poor maintenance of roads and lack of pavements.
The court had directed the GHMC to submit an action taken report after four weeks and explain the steps being taken for removal of encroachments from pavements and also construction where they didn’t exist. The civic body, however, has failed to check illegal occupation of pavements.
When contacted, additional commissioner D. Ronald Rose said, “There are two major issues — the street vendors and the hawkers. For the hawkers, we are identifying a suitable site for them to function from. Whereas for the street vendors, GHMC is preparing a circle wise action plan to clear the encroachments; violators will be booked under the Land Grabbing Act.”
