More than 500 merchants, shop employees and association members blocked traffic at Cemented Road Junction in Royapuram on Wednesday, demanding that street vendors be removed from the pedestrian plaza footpaths on Monegar Choultry Road, popularly known as MC Road, before the Deepavali shopping season.
The protest was organised by members of the Madras Washermenpet Cut Piece Cloth Merchants Association and local businesses. Demonstrators said unauthorised roadside stalls were affecting permanent shops and restricting access to both the commercial premises and the road. The road roko caused significant traffic disruption in the area.
Police personnel and Royapuram MLA K Vijay Dhamu reached the location and held talks with the protesters. Dhamu told the merchants that street vendors would be relocated from MC Road after Deepavali, while temporary permission to operate until the festival had been granted on humanitarian grounds.
“Vendors are underprivileged individuals who set up stalls using high-interest loans. So, the decision to temporarily permit street vendors to operate until Deepavali was made on humanitarian grounds. Alternative spaces will be arranged for them after the festival,” Dhamu said, according to the report.
The MLA said 133 street vendors had been allotted shops on MC Road in 2011, but 29 vendors who were left out subsequently sought space. He also said some vendors who received allotments were operating additional roadside stalls through relatives. This had taken the number of street stalls on the road to nearly 100, he said.
Authorities are examining issues including occupancy of the allotted shops, alleged unauthorised resale of units and abandoned shops, Dhamu said. The review is intended to help arrive at a permanent solution to the dispute over vending space on MC Road.
The merchants cited a 2020 Madras High Court verdict and Greater Chennai Corporation guidelines that classify MC Road as a non-vending zone. They also compared the road’s status with Khader Nawaz Khan Road and Pondy Bazaar, which have similarly been designated as non-vending areas. The association said repeated petitions to Corporation officials had not resulted in effective enforcement.
R Mohamed Farook, the association’s secretary, said the protest was the group’s second in 10 days. Vendors were removed on October 7 and 8 after the earlier demonstration but returned to the road on October 13, he said. Around 2,000 traders reportedly shut their shops until 12.30 pm on Wednesday in support of the demand.
Association president Ashok Kumar said merchants had faced financial pressure following the COVID-19 pandemic and during three-and-a-half years of pedestrian plaza work. He said roadside stalls on both sides of the plaza blocked access during peak festive shopping, affecting customers and vehicles reaching permanent storefronts.
The immediate arrangement allows street vendors to continue operating until Deepavali. The next stated step is their relocation after the festival, alongside the Corporation’s investigation into shop allotments, occupancy, alleged resale and alternative vending spaces.
