Roadside vendors vs police : What about the public ?

Ninglun Hanghal *

Roadside vendors vs police :: Pix - TSE

It is a common sight in Manipur to see the police chasing women vendors; their vegetables are scattered, and vendors are running helter-skelter. Many a time, a brawl or argument, even a fight between women vendors and the police, is seen in and around the vicinity of Nupi/Ema Keithel.

This is considered a normal affair, not only in the State capital and the busiest Khwairamband Keithel in Imphal but in the busy, crowded markets across the towns in other parts of the State as well.

The bazaar scenes in Manipur are indeed amusing and a sight to behold. The police are notorious and obviously doing their job. They come to shoo the vendors away from the roadside and pavement in non-permitted areas. Striking the vendor’s baskets, hammering the containers, trashing them and literally vandalise the goods.

Nevertheless, women vendors too survived and continued their business despite the daily harassment. The police are on duty, and so too are vendors continuing their trade daily.

One thing is clear : It is just impossible to keep at bay or ward off the roadside, pavement women vendors, by the police.

It is noteworthy that women's markets in the State were upgraded with better infrastructure. But sadly, half of the spaces in these infrastructures remain unoccupied. While the markets surroundings are crowded. For instance, the first floor of the tribal market in New Checkon is vacant, while half of its building is occupied by second-hand clothes and Moreh products.

Same goes with the Nute market in the new bazaar, Lamka, where no vendors sit on the first floor. Vendors at Nute Market said that no customers climb stairs or go up a building to buy vegetables. Thus, most vendors prefer to spread themselves in and around the bazaar building. Most of the market spaces inside the building are also occupied by plastic toy sellers or non-vegetable vendors.

Another shopkeeper in Lamka once said that unless you spread yourself as close to the road as possible, people don’t come inside and check out your items or goods. This is even more obvious with vegetable vendors and the popular second-hand clothing shops. They would spread themselves as close to the road as possible.

Moreover, several market sheds are constructed across various locations in the State, which are unoccupied, and most of them remain empty. It appears that a market shed is being constructed where it is not necessary or needed at all. Or simply that vendors are not interested, or maybe due to the fact that it is located where no customers visit.

According to vendors, customers want easy access and items right in front of them so that they need not go or take extra effort to purchase their needs. Many customers want to pick up their daily needs "on the way," which can be easily accessed from the road or street corners. Perhaps this is one reason why the thoughtful roadside vendors line up as close to the road as possible.

Another case is that of the butchers and meat vendors who line up along the roads and highways. That, too, with the un-attractive display of their product, that makes a not very beautiful sight. A cut meat, chickens hanging in a row—all along the busy, dusty roadside.

Any vendor or shopkeeper in the State needed to locate themselves where they could be easily visible and accessible by the public. The main reason being that customers, the general public, are not willing to make an extra effort to locate and go to the bazaar to get their neccessary and daily needs.

This could be the main reason why most market sheds remain vacant. Vendors occupy only the ground floor of the market shed to ensure that buyers can easily see them and get what they need.

There could be other reasons, too, why market buildings remain unoccupied or half-occupied. Several vendors do not have the licence or the registration for the trade. They end up lining up on the roadside and pavement, particularly the vegetable vendors. Many are said to prefer this setup. Most of them are temporary, too.

There could be various reasons as to why several vendors prefer to go about their business without the licence. Many, in fact, prefer not to take a seat inside the bazaar, having no problem encountering the police daily and enduring the trouble. This needs to be looked into in a more systematic way by the department concerned.

While the impatience or unwillingness to take the extra step to buy essential items seems to be one of the reasons for customers to pick up only those that are spread near the road or on the ground floor of a bazaar, the surprising thing is that there is a huge rush at Vishal Mega Mart.

Here, customers do not have any problems climbing the 3/4 storey or standing in long lines waiting for their turn at the payment counter. People come from various places, both near and far, to shop at Vishal Mart.

But when it comes to purchasing daily needs, especially food items, the general public does not seem willing to give an extra effort or go to a designated bazaar to purchase their vegetables or their daily food needs.

All these have caused chaos in the bazaar. While the number of vendors and buyers keeps increasing, the town and city are now unruly and appear unmana- geable. In the whole mess, the general public and the customers can surely contribute to making it a bit more orderly.

If the public can take an extra effort and take a few more steps to go to the designated bazaars, our towns and cities would surely be less chaotic, better managed, and definitely smarter.