The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought for the relocation of hawkers from Laitumkhrah Main Road in keeping with the state government’s recent announcement to move hawkers from Khyndailad to the adjacent MUDA Parking Lot.
Wankitbok Pohshna, the state BJP general secretary, congratulated the Meghalaya government (of which the BJP is a part) in addressing the longstanding issue by striking a balance between hawkers’ livelihoods and the rights of pedestrians and vehicle passengers.
However, Pohshna also said that similar attention needs to be given to Laitumkhrah. There commuters and residents “have long expressed distress over congestion along the Laitumkhrah Main Road stretching to the Fire Brigade junction, where unregulated street vending has increasingly hampered mobility and as a direct consequence public safety stands compromised.”
The BJP figure suggested that hawkers could be accommodated at the Laitumkhrah parking lot, taking the place of stalls temporarily occupied by shopkeepers from the Laitumkhrah bazaar while the latter is being extensively renovated. He also suggested that, if this area is insufficient, the state government could purchase a suitable private property on the main road to establish a dedicated hawkers’ market.
Last year a proposal to relocate 80-plus hawkers from the main road to the adjacent Lady Veronica Lane was opposed by residents there.
