Vendors made a mockery of the local civic body’s efforts to remove them from the commercial hub of Sakchi on Saturday, returning after a two-hour operation and a subsequent warning with police claiming that they were not informed about the eviction drive.

“Acting on the directive of the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla we decided to clear vendors from Sakchi market approach roads as their presence has been creating problems for legitimate traders and visitors,” said Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) special officer Krishna Kumar.

Led by Kumar, a team of officials and home guards removed over 80 vendors from several lanes of the Sakchi market area at 10.30m. The eviction drive went on for two hours. But once the officials were gone, the vendors returned with their carts and trolleys at 2 pm.

Vendors return soon after the eviction drive. Picture by Bhola Prasad

“We used a public address system to ask vendors to vacate the approach roads a week back. Earlier, we had fined them. But the vendors returned. This time we removed their stalls and kiosks and even warned them after they came back,” he added.

OC of Sakchi police station Rajiv Kumar Singh assured JNAC that they would take action against vendors but said that they weren’t informed about Saturday’s operation.

“We will certainly take action against illegal vendors who returned with their carts. However, we were not informed about today’s raids. I hope next time, JNAC takes us into confidence during such operations so that we can identify the vendors and take action if they return,” said Singh.

JNAC city manager Ravi Bharti said JNAC would carry out more such raids at Sakchi and seize goods of vendors.