Declared Non-Vending Zone in Middle of Sri Vijaya Puram Bustles with Vendors; Lack of Enforcement or Street Vendor Mafia at Play?

Tarun Karthick

Sri Vijaya Puram, 03 November 2024

Some authority, most likely the Sri Vijaya Puram Municipal Council, has put up signs in a part of Lamba Line – School Like Road Area declaring it a Non-Vending Zone. Right in the area designated as a non-vending zone, multiple fruit vendors and sugarcane juice vendors are running their ventures.

The area where these vendors are operating is adjacent to the boundary wall of INS Utkrosh, a Naval Air Station and the only dual-use (civilian and military) runway in Sri Vijaya Puram, which also happens to be the only airport where flights from mainland India arrive and depart in the whole of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Fruits attract birds, and birds near runways can result in bird strikes, which could cause damage to the aircraft and, in extreme cases, also lead to the failure of essential systems, resulting in a crash. Bird strikes can also damage essential systems of the aircraft, which could result in the grounding of the asset for a prolonged period.

Such open flouting of non-vending zone restrictions cannot happen without the authorities being in cahoots with the vendors operating there. There could also be some kind of mafia behind the vending businesses, as the vendors seemed unfearful of any kind of action when Nicobar Times visited the site on 2nd November 2024.

When we questioned one of the fruit vendors on whether he is paying some money to some authority for carrying out the vending business in a non-vending zone, he refused.

Further, we noticed that one person has multiple vending businesses in the same area. They have hired employees to manage one cart while handling the other cart themselves. In fact, the fruit vendor we spoke to also owned a sugarcane juice vending cart for which he has hired an employee. The vending businesses operating in the non-vending zone are no longer self-employment ventures but have turned into full-fledged businesses operating literally on the road.

There is something amiss with the authorities not enforcing the non-vending zone restriction in the area. Maybe their palms are being greased well, or they are in cahoots with some kind of mafia that funds these street vendors for a profit, ensuring that their business does not die and that their profits remain consistent.