Vegetable and fruit vendors staged a demonstration

Salem:Vegetable and fruit vendors staged a demonstration near the Salem Town police station urging the officials to allow them to set shops on Chinna Kadai Veethi.Following widespread complaints from the people, the traffic police personnel and Salem Corporation officials asked the vendors to shift their shops to ease traffic congestion.The Corporation allotted a vacant place near the Ananda Bridge for the vendors to do their business.

Stating that people were not coming to the new place and they were suffering losses, the vendors urged the officials to allow them to set shops in Chinna Kadai Veethi again. They also claimed that the new place lacked basic amenities. The stench emanating from the Tirumanimutharu River was unbearable, they claimed.Police officials pacified the vendors and assured them that they would initiate steps to clean the land near the bridge and provide electricity and other required amenities for the vendors.

A senior police official said the vendors were protesting at the instigation of a few people.The shops occupying the edges of Chinna Kadai Veethi, a busy street in the city, caused severe traffic congestion.Further, the vegetable and fruit waste are left in the street, making it difficult for the people to use the road. “As a result, we have decided to remove the vendors from the street and shift their shops to a new location,” he said.