Teams of civic workers or Chennai Corporation, a few mini JCBs and a few lorries landed up on South Mada Street on Tuesday morning to clear the hawker stalls on the pavements.
Backed by a posse of police men and women, the workers did quick work of what they were here for, loading all the stalls and leftover waste into the lorries and before long, the pavements were clean and clear, as they must be.
But some Mylaporeans who went by were not amused – having seen many such operations they expected the hawkers to be back in business under 24 hours. Some others said that the hawkers serve a purpose and that their livelihoods must be safeguarded.
Here are some comments posted on the FB page of Mylapore Times
Said H. Balaraman : No matter how many times the Corporation of Chennai cleans up….unless the parallel system is not completely eradicated hawkers will continue to pay money and come back to the pavements.
Said Harieesh: You cannot fix a corrupt system by doing eye wash exercises. It is a well worked network
what they need to do is to buy them a tri-cycle with sufficient space so that they can hawk the vegetables and other wares using that. and once the service is over, they can drive it back home. that would leave south mada street clear during times when the hawkers are not present