Cops to challan those who stop to buy snacks on road

NOIDA: Next time if you stop on a major roads of Noida to buy snacks from street vendors, you could end up paying a little more. The traffic police has already started issuing challans to those who stop on roads like expressway, DSC road or along the metro route without a valid reason.

On Friday, the traffic police issued challans to as many as 10 people for stopping on the expressway to have snacks. The commuters have now called for proper vending zones in the city, and called for immediate removal of vendors from all important roads.

The vendors are omnipresent on Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Noida-Delhi link route, Captain Vijyant Thapar Marg, Dadri-Surajpur-Chhalera (DSC) route, etc.

Professor R S Rai, a resident of Sector 82, who works at a private university, welcomed the idea of challaning commuters but demanded that the vendors be removed from the major routes.

“These vendors including the challi-wallahs and others are a temptation to commuters. It is the root cause of the traffic menace here. If they are removed from the spot and are regulated, the problem will end,” he said.

While the issue of challi-wallahs (corn-sellers) came up for discussion even at the last weekly meeting on traffic held at the district collectorate, commuters also point out at a number of damaged or burnt cars that are lying on the expressway.

On Saturday too, a burnt car was spotted near Sector 148 on the Noida-Greater Noida expressway.

Amit Singhal, a resident of Sector 143, told TOI that damaged cars were lying on many spots on the expressway and the same pose a major threat to the flow of traffic.

“These are major hindrances in traffic flow and damaged vehicles could be seen even on the main road,” Singhal said.

However, the Noida Authority is yet to demarcate the vending zones in the city, for which a survey is also yet to be conducted.

According to officials, although nearly 200 vending zones have been “identified”, the demarcation would be done only after proper survey is carried out by a third-party.

Rajesh Singh, officer on special duty (OSD), Noida Authority, said that the survey would start once the applications are received from the vendors.

“We will display advertisements inviting applications. A list of possible areas for the zones will also be published on the Authority’s website,” he said.

However, the demarcation will still be months away, as the Authority plans to hire a private agency to conduct the survey and at least a one-month window will have to be given to vendors to submit applications.

As far as the damaged vehicles are concerned, these have to be removed from the spot by police as these are “case properties,” they said.

SP (traffic) Anil Jha told TOI that as per directions from the city magistrate, these vehicles have to be removed by police only.