With the State administration busy undertaking the high-court ordered anti-encroachment drive in Dehradun, the vendors setting stalls in the Sunday market were unable to do so for the seventh consecutive week. While the additional chief secretary has issued strict instructions to file an FIR against anyone who attempts to set stall for the Sunday market on the road bordering the Parade Ground, members of the the Weekly Sunday Market Welfare committee (WSMWC) who had approached officials in the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) for help complain that they are not being allowed to resume their trade.
Meanwhile, some of the locals who frequently visit the weekly bazaar opine that the authorities should enable the holding of the Sunday market.
A passerby Vikas Palin said, “Sunday market used to be held once in a week, which in my view was not creating major problem for anyone. The officials are making poor people pay while the rich have still encroached on the government land and little has been done against them.
lower as well as middle-class people used to come and shop at the Sunday market. Its discontinuation has affected not only the traders but the buyers too.”
Rakesh Singh another local resident said, “The officials should the vendors to set up the weekly market on some other location. This will prevent rules from being violated and also enable the vendors to ply their trade. Also, the problem of traffic congestion will be resolved.”
Seeking a solution the members of the WSMWC had earlier met Dehradun municipal commissioner Vijay Kumar Jogdande. However, they were told that the corporation is not in a position to meet their demand. Alternate location for the weekly market was suggested near the Rispana while another option suggested was for the vendors to file a case in the court of law.
The vendors complained that they used to pay Rs 300 per stall to the MCD every Sunday, which would amount to about Rs 40 lakh a year in revenue for the corporation. Despite this, they were being treated as encroachers.
They, further, said that officials are also not allotting a new proper place for the vendors. The vendors are not interested in alternate locations like near the Rispana river which they state is far from the main market area. The vendors aver that at a time when many of them are finding it hard to pay the school fees of their children, it is nearly impossible for them to contest the issue in the court of law considering they have no money to pay for legal expenses.