Lotan Pandit, 59, and Jai Kishore Shah, 38, have lost all their one-day earning in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation-led eviction-cum cleanliness drive here at Fancy Bazar.
Nearly 132 unauthorised and “unhygienic” shops were evicted from Fancy Bazar area here on Thursday to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Pandit, a fruit vendor, said the GMC official and others came to clean the area asked to vacate “without giving any notice or announcement”.
“As they started cleaning because of the Covid-19 scare, we also started with them. But they asked to vacate the area as well. So we have to move hurriedly with our goods and other things. Many fruits have been destroyed while transferring amidst the chaos and some people also ate the fallen fruits,” Pandit told The Telegraph.
“I have lost over Rs 2,500, my one-day earning, and fruits worth over Rs 2,200 have been destroyed. It will now take four to five days to manage this loss,” Pandit, who hails from Bihar, said.
Altogether 85 fruit vendors are conducting their business for the last 40 years by “occupying” MM Road in Fancy Bazar here.
Pandit said, “Gauhati High Court had ordered that we should be allowed to operate or run our business until the vending or hawking zones are created. But there is no permanent solution of it till now, we need permanent solution.”
Shah who has been selling fruits since 1994, “There was neither notice nor announcement. We have an allotment of four feet beside the road. Every shop has lost goods around Rs 4,000-5,000. We did not open shops yesterday after eviction and today we opened after 11am.”
Shah and Pandit said they give Rs 20 each day as revenue.
GMC joint commissioner said, “According to Gauhati High Court directives, footpath vendors selling meat, fruits and fish in unhygienic conditions were evicted by the corporation to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The drive to check illegal and unhygienic shops and footpath vendors in the city will continue.”
The eviction drive was jointly carried out by the GMC, Kamrup (metro) district administration and the commissionerate of police, under the monitoring of Assam cops.
