Delay in construction of vending zones for street hawkers is further clogging the roads of the town, including the newly renovated Luby Circular Road which Dhanbad Municipal Corporation beautified spending Rs 1.8 crore last year.

The pathetic state of the road, established by the first chairman of Dhanbad municipality late T Luby in 1921, could be assumed from the fact that the footpath, constructed for walking as part of a beautification project, has been encroached by a large number of pavement shopkeepers compelling pedestrians to walk on the main road.

Plantation carried out on the side of the road as part of the beautification work is also not visible because several vendors have put up shops on the footpath.

The situation near SSLNT Women’s College in front of the residence of Dhanbad senior superintendent of police Kishore Kaushal on Luby Circular Road is particularly bad as large number of eateries, readymade garment shops have encroached upon the pavement.

Expressing disgust over the situation, Mannan Sinha, an electrician in Hirapur, said: “When the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation started the road beautification work two years back we were hopeful of having some eye-soothing greenery on the main road of the town but in less than six months of its completion, more than 200 shopkeepers have completely encroached upon the road, making the road more congested than before. Though the situation is better before 9am, it deteriorates once the shopkeepers put up makeshift stalls on the footpath,” said Sinha, adding that to make matters worse a large number of customers of these stalls park their vehicles near the footpath clogging it further.

In-charge of National Urban Livelihood Mission project of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, Santosh Kumar, said: “The construction work of six vending zones is being carried out at different places of Dhanbad according to the provisions of The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, and we will shift all the registered 3,978 vendors to the vending zones which will be equipped with necessary facilities such as water, power, toilets among other things.