Hyderabad: Footpaths created by HMRL are playing host to hawkers while pedestrians don’t get to use them. Hawkers are encroaching the footpath, railing and main road near Metro stations including in Moosapet, Parade Grounds, Secunderabad West, Mettuguda towards Tarnaka, Panjagutta and Uppal. Vendors set up makeshift shops on scooters, under umbrellas on the main road leading to traffic congestion.
At some places like Chaitanyapuri, KPHB, Vendors have been pushed from pavements to roads, and that is causing traffic chaos as some people are randomly stopping their vehicles on the road to make purchases. People are also stopping at random locations to make purchases. Some of the vendors are creating their makeshift homes.
A commuter K. Sumit at ESI hospital said, “The facility was created to make people walk but pavements are no longer for pedestrians. The hawkers need to be shown proper vending zones.” Another commuter Ms Priyanka said, “While we boast of state of the art footpaths, this was anticipated. Unfortunately, the roads are for vehicles and footpaths are for hawkers.”
Some of the netizens took to twitter to express concern over encroachment of footpaths. Evicting hawkers is a herculean task, but Hyderabad traffic police are conducting checks and lifting off encroachments with cranes. However vendors are returning soon. HMR authorities said that they would ensure that metro station premises would not be occupied to allow for free flow for commuters.
