Even as the drive to evict unauthorised vendors in the city is being undertaken in the city, the authorities and vendors had a stand-off on Sunday as a group of vendors set up stalls as part of Sunday market. The group of roadside vendors set up their wares on Nardev Shastri Marg (Court Road) early in the morning. Responding to complaints from locals and other shopkeepers the police reached the site and evicted the vendors.There was also heated argument between the vendors and Rajpur Road MLA Khajan Das who stressed that priority should be accorded first to the vendors who hail from Dehradun itself.
The vendors said that the officials had been strictly preventing them from setting up stalls as part of the Sunday market for about eight months now. However, they claimed that the mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ and assistant municipal commissioner Neeraj Joshi verbally gave them permission to set up stalls in different spots of the city. They further alleged that one side they get permission to set their shops and as soon as they settle, the police forcefully remove them as they lack written permission.
Margoob Ali head of the association of the Sunday market vendors said, “We have been shuffling our places from last seven-eight months. Even the officials are playing with us. This has affected our lives as for many shopkeepers this is the only source of income. We use to pay the MCD Rs 300 per day and now they are saying that a division will be done and vendors from Dehradun will get first preference which is not fair. We all use to give money to the MCD and now they are differentiating between us. Officials should take some steps to give us some place which will help both MCD and us.”
Vijay Vardhan Dandriyal, a resident of the area said, “The Sunday market disturbs the local area very much. There are shops and houses apart from barricading to prevent even the vehicles from entering from the market side. Despite all this, the vendors had set up stalls here in the morning. This lane is also a way for the Doon hospital which became chaotic because of the Sunday market.”
Addressing the media persons at the site, MLA Khajan Das said, “The Sunday market will not be allowed in the main market area. The permitted vendors have the permission already and unauthorised vendors will not cover any market area whenever they want. If somehow Sunday market issue is resolved someday then the Dehradun resident vendors will be given first preference.”
Meanwhile, the Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal ‘Gama’ said, “The issue is in our notice, steps will be taken from our side to resolve it.”