Two weeks on, vendors back in Fort Kochi

KOCHI: The eviction drive in Fort Kochi seems to have failed miserably, with the vendors back to occupying the areas from where they were once dislodged. The district administration had put in quite an effort to evict 150-odd vendors from Fort Kochi two weeks back as per a court order.But thereafter,it has been said that the authorities who had evicted them rarely inspect the place to check if further encroachment was taking place. Town Planning Chairman K J Sohan said that the Corporation had got no information about the vendors coming back to the place. “There are five police officials to take care of these matters and it is their job to check encroachment in the area. Most of the time, they are not doing their duty properly,” he said.He noted that the Corporation could only impose fines and ask the police to strictly evict the encroachers. Sohan also said that the Corporation was ready for a second-phase eviction drive if any information about violation of law was received.Vendors of all ilk, including craft-workers, fruit-sellers and other traders have found their way back to their old places near Chinese nets, which are considered as an emblem of Fort Kochi.However, the street vendors have a different stance to offer. They say that they were not given any alternative place to start their business. Fort Kochi Cherukida Vyapari Vyavasayi Association president Mohammad Abbas said, “most of the vendors have not been rehabilitated,”“Large scale encroachments in the city still remain untouched by the authorities, but they are only targeting poor people like small-scale vendors.  As it is a court order, we are planing to move if we get a place. Else we will move court for a heritage market in the vacant places of Fort Kochi. Such a heritage market was even planned during the tenure of former Collector K V Beena,” Abbas said.