LAHORE: The ongoing drive of the city administration to remove and confiscate handcarts and temporary stalls from the roads, intersections and open spaces has invited a severe criticism for the Punjab government from the vendors who term the official raids and action highhandedness and injustice against them.

On the other hand, the administration rejected the allegation made by street vendors and held them responsible for causing traffic jams, encroachments and noise and environmental pollution in Lahore. It says the government may provide them with model carts if they shift to the designated sites/bazaars for selling fruit, vegetables and other eatables. But the vendors don’t see the offer suitable to them, stating that they find no customers at the sites designated for them.

“For the last 30 days, earning money to run our houses has not only become a difficult task but also a humiliating one. They (the admin teams) suddenly appear, snatch our carts, load them onto truck and confiscate them. They don’t even tell us where to sell fruit and vegetables,” deplores a street vendor who used to sell fruits on the handcart near Shadiwal Chowk in Johar Town.

“Though we follow the officials’ instructions related to selling goods on pushcarts by staying away from the main roads, service lanes and greenbelts, they don’t allow us to do business anywhere,” the vendor continues, lashing out at the government.

Admin rejects allegation, saying nobody is allowed to sell goods except at designated sites; officials say vendors cause traffic issues

Around two months ago, the government had launched the model handcart distribution project in Lahore aimed at facilitating the vendors to sell fruits, vegetables, eatables etc at designated bazaars, markets or places. The project further aimed at removing all carts from the main roads, pushing them far from the roads and greenbelts to ensure the smooth traffic flow and avert congestion and pollution that contributes to smog, especially in weathers. Since 1,000 model carts have already been distributed among roadside vendors, who registered themselves with the Municipal Corporation Lahore (MCL) and handed over their old carts to the government under a criteria laid down by the city administration and the MCL officers concerned, another 1,000 model carts are likely to be ready soon. At present, a number of vendors are selling fruits and other eatables at Shadman Bazaar, Multan Road, Allama Iqbal Town (Karim Block) and other designated sites. But, a large number of roadside vendors are still without such carts.

“The teams consisting of the officials of city administration and metropolitan corporation continue snatching and confiscating the traditional carts from vendors almost on a daily basis. Though we request them to provide us with alternatives, they don’t even bother to reply to us for such an important issue which is directly linked to our livelihood,” deplores another vendor. He urged the chief minister to intervene and revise the policy, which, according to him, has perhaps been devised to kill roadside/street vendors.

Lahore Deputy Commissioner Syed Musa Raza rejects the vendors’ stance, stating that no one would be allowed to sell fruits, vegetables etc at scattered places along roads that causes traffic congestion, pollution and other civic issues.

“Selling goods by blocking roads, intersections etc has not only become a serious public nuisance but it also leads to creating severe environmental issues. We cannot allow such vendors to sell goods by blocking roads,” he stresses.

To a question, the DC says the teams request the roadside vendors scattered everywhere along the roads to come together and sell their merchandise at one place, but they don’t follow the instructions. To another question, he says there are almost 8,000 roadside vendors in Lahore. And out of them, 1,000 have been provided with model carts which would be followed by another 1,000 in the near future. He says he would instruct the teams to communicate well to the vendors about designated places and where they should gather at one place to sell their goods.

Talking toDawn, MCL Chief Officer Shahid Kathia dispels the impression given by the vendors, calling it incorrect, saying that the teams just want to keep the roads cleared of any kind of hurdles that may cause traffic congestion and difficulty for pedestrians.

“We always request them to remain off the roads but they don’t bother to listen to our pleas. Eventually, such an attitude forces us to take action,” Mr Kathia explains.

To a question, he says the MCL has floated tenders worth Rs700m for installing streetlights at several places in six zones in the first phase. Likewise, the tenders worth Rs700m or so would also be floated next month for streetlights installations in three zones.

Meanwhile, the city administration led by DC Syed Musa Raza reviewed the pace of work on several development schemes under the Lahore Development Programme.

WASA: The Water and Sanitation agency (Wasa) has launched civil work for the construction of two underground rainwater harvesting ponds in Tajpura. Wasa Vice Chairman Chaudhry Shahbaz laid the foundation stone for launch of the project, according to a spokesman.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2025