Pune: Viman Nagar Residents Advocate For Re-location Of Licensed Vendors And Hawkers To Enhance Safety And Order

Viman Nagar, 15th August 2023: In a concerted effort to improve pedestrian safety and restore order to public spaces, the Viman Nagar Citizens Forum, led by Convenor Qaneez Sukhrani, has persistently advocated for the re-location of licensed vendors and hawkers in the city.

Sukhrani and the forum have communicated their recommendations to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for the past five years, seeking the implementation of structured zones for vending activities.

Outlined in the proposal are comprehensive guidelines aimed at regulating the presence and operations of licensed vendors, contributing to the overall enhancement of public spaces. 

The key recommendations include:

1. Establishing dedicated Hawker / Vendor Zones within residential localities to consolidate vending activities, thereby ensuring pedestrian safety and convenience.
2. Designating No Hawking Zones on footpaths narrower than 3 meters, within a 50-meter radius of road junctions, and enforcing strict actions against violations.
3. Designating Prohibited Hawking Zones along roads within 100 meters of bus stations, depots, and railway stations, as well as footpaths, streets, or lanes narrower than 15 meters.
4. Defining Hawking Zones on footpaths wider than 3 meters, utilizing one side of the footpath, and specific locations such as road ends, dead-ends, and open spaces near nullahs, ensuring unobstructed pedestrian and vehicular movement.
5. Enforcing conditions like clean surroundings, limited pitch dimensions, no clustering of more than 10 hawker pitches, and restrictions on license transfers and business changes.

For the densely populated Viman Nagar area, which is witnessing an influx of IT companies and corporate offices, the forum has recommended the re-location of vendors to two underutilized parcels of land: one situated behind Zensar Biodiversity Udyan along a nullah, and another along the so-called HCMTR Road near Phoenix Marketcity Mall. These proposed locations are currently facing misuse by encroachers, squatters, and unauthorized parking.

The surge in unlicensed cooked food stalls has also become a pressing concern in Viman Nagar. Despite operating without PMC and FDA Pune permissions, these stalls occupy entire footpaths and conduct cooking activities in unsanitary conditions, often utilizing gas cylinders in open spaces. Such practices pose safety hazards and contravene court orders, thereby necessitating their eviction.

Sukhrani and the Viman Nagar Citizens Forum have collaborated extensively with PMC officials and Traffic Police, with on-site visits conducted to address the issue. However, challenges persist in enforcing the recommended measures. The current situation has led to pedestrian congestion, traffic congestion, and a decline in the quality of public spaces.

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