Food stalls at the Night Bazaar near Old Jail Road in Visakhapatnam.
Corporators from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP) have submitted a representation to the GVMC authorities demanding closure of the Night Food Bazaar at Old Jail Road in the city by Sunday. Alleging irregularities in the functioning of the Night Bazaar, the NDA corporators threatened that they would launch protests from Monday if their demand was not met.
JSP corporator P.L.V.N. Murthy alleged that some YSRCP corporators are involved in irregularities in the night bazaar, by collecting ₹2 lakh to ₹4 lakh to set up a food cart and then collecting monthly rentals to the tune of ₹20,000.
“The Night Bazaar should be shut down immediately and then the vendors should be given the slots in a transparent manner,” he said.
Deputy Floor Leader of TDP and Ward 76 corporator Gandham Srinivasa Rao said that though the council has passed a resolution to shut down the night bazaar in 2023 and also in 2024, the GVMC failed to initiate steps in this regard.
The council has been against the night food bazaar since last year. In September 2023, the council announced its decision to shut down following complaints over sanitation, traffic, public inconvenience and unauthorised entry of hawkers. The council also decided to start food courts elsewhere with recognised vendors. The food court vendors were also served notices to vacate the premises within 10 days. A year later, the food court still runs with huge turnout of visitors every day, while the number of vendors has almost doubled.
During the first council meeting held in September after formation of the NDA government, the corporators questioned authorities why no action was implemented even though the council had passed a resolution a year ago. The NDA corporators alleged that a year ago, the number of vendors at the food court were around 70, which now was close to 135. GVMC Commissioner P. Sampath Kumar said the issues would be looked into and steps would be taken to close down the bazaar at the earliest.
The Night Food Court was started in February 2020 with 25 recognised hawkers. A month later, it was closed down due to COVID-19 restrictions. It was reopened fully after the COVID second wave, and with good patronage from the public, the number of stalls began to rise.
The vendors said that most of them had taken loans from banks to purchase vehicles and equipment, for which they are still paying EMIs. They also said that if any vendor sets up stalls in an unauthorised manner, action must be taken only against them but not against the entire bazaar.
Though the night bazaar enjoys a strong patronage for its variety of delicacies, a common complaint from the visitors as well as the morning walkers is the sanitation. Many vendors do not maintain adequate dustbins, while food waste is dumped on the pavement.
Published – December 30, 2024 09:23 am IST
