Against the illegal vegetable vending zones inside the area of Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD), Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) on Monday submitted a memorandum to the administrative officer.
Alleging that most of these vegetable vendors are from outside the State and operating without proper verification by police, the UKD members said the slots in places like the vending zone near Ring Road should only be permitted to the citizens of Uttarakhand.
UKD representatives protesting at MCD premises said, Uttarakhand High court itself had directed that the illegal vending areas on roadsides are also encroachment, but local authorities don’t seem to be following orders. Most of vegetable vendors are natives of Saharanpur, Gonda, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore — all in Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Bihar.
They further raised questions on the authority by which MCD has given permission to construct vending zone near Ambiwala Gurdwara. UKD members said the land concerned belongs to irrigation department, because of which MCD is not authorised to construct the vending zone there without the permission of both irrigation department and state administration.
They demanded that in the 100 wards of MCD, 25 separate vending zones should be constructed. Only the natives of Uttarakhand should be given permission to operate in the city.
Mahanagar president of UKD, Sunil Dhyani said, “In last 19 years after Uttarakhand came into being, we have repeatedly protested against the increasing number of slums in Uttarakhand. Most of the criminal elements in the State are active in these slums. In the past we have also submitted memorandum to senior police officials in order to conduct police verification of the people living in these slums. We are not against the common people living there, but against the mafias who are using their poor financial condition as a medium to grow their illegal business in the State.”