Srinagar: Under the smart City project, at least 250 registered street vendors are all set to be shifted to the smart vending zone, being established at present in Magarmal Bagh area of Srinagar, soon while the administration claimed that the work over the “smart vending zone” will be completed within a month.
According to the Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the authorities under the smart city project are establishing a smart vending zone for the street vendors at Magarmal Bagh, Srinagar.
The men at work informed that a total of 94 shops have been established so far while further are being set up soon, adding that the process may take some more time to complete all the shops.
The shifting of street vendors would help in decongesting the areas, which usually remain occupied by them and usually led to the massive traffic mess.
“There is a need to come up with more such vending zones so that all street vendors are accommodated there and the roads will no longer remain occupied by them and simultaneously, the commuters could heave a sigh of relief,” Sameer Ahmad, one of the shopkeepers at Lal Chowk said.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, who is also Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Srinagar Smart City Limited, told KNO that a total of 250 vending shops are being established at Magarmal Bagh area while more vending shops will be set up at two other places for which the work will be started soon.
He said the street vendors who are registered with the government will be shifted to the vending zones area wise, adding that street vendors from the more congested area will be accommodated first. “Two more vending zones will also come up soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, official sources said that the project was under consideration from past couple of years while tenders and other related processes were started in the ending months of 2019.
However, they said that the outbreak of deadly COVID-19 has hampered the project as the smart vending zone at Magarmal Bagh would have been established almost six months back. (KNO)
