Women food vendors
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 11 2015:
Women food vendors of Purana Bazar have urged the officials of Imphal Municipal Council (IMC) to return their kerosene stoves at the earliest.
These stoves were seized by police as cooking food for sale at Purana Bazar is prohibited as it allegedly makes the market dirty.
Woman vendor Yumnam ongbi Shakhi told The Sangai Express that food vendors have been making available healthy meal to shoppers and other vendors who come from far away places.
Shakhi added that running his speech given at flyover inauguration ceremony, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi had told the women vendors that the Government would not prohibit running food vendors inside Purana Bazar.
However, in November last year ahead of the Manipur Sangai Festival, police had seized all the stoves of food vendors stating that running food stalls had made the market dirty.
Saying that there are 54 food stalls in Purana Bazar, Shakhi said that each stall serves as livelihood for four women each.
She said that IMC officials told them that they do not have any knowledge about the seized stoves.
Shakhi further said that the officials also asked them to submit a written application if they wish to run food stalls at Purana Bazar.
Saying that IMC had already taken all the license cards of these vendors at the time when women vendors shifted themselves to new Ima market, Shakhi said that IMC's instruction to submit a fresh application at this point of time is surprising.
She said that IMC officials must not forget that former Governor VK Duggal encouraged the food vendors and even tasted fried fish in a stall during his visit to Purana Bazar.
She said that IMC's instruction to women vendors to bring cooked food and sell it their respective stalls is not feasible at all as everybody want to have warm food only.