Baldev S Chauhan / New Delhi/ Shimla Apr 28, 2009, 00:50 IST
The number of illegal hawkers and street vendors is growing at a faster pace in the state capital.
Sources in the Shimla municipal corporation office say it has only given licences to 166 hawkers and street vendors, but according to estimates there are around 2,000 of them doing business within the municipal corporation limits here.
The corporation issues licences and renews them besides charging an annual rent. But since most of the vendors and hawkers are illegal this is causing a revenue loss to the municipal corporation besides adding to congestion on the narrow winding lanes of this hill station.
“The number of street vendors has definitely grown and they have encroached on public space in the past few weeks adding to the chaos in the streets of Shimla,” said one local. Most of the licenceholders are seated in the downtown areas of Lower bazaar,Lakkar bazaar, Ram bazaar and the Tibetan market.
But they have been outnumbered by encroachers as the authorities have been lenient in the past few weeks.
The authorities have been coming in for a lot of criticism for allowing these encroachments as the tourist season peaks in the next few weeks, adding to the crowding in the busy lanes of this popular resort town.
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