The Chennai Corporation on Saturday shifted shops on Marina beach to 11 vending bays, declaring the rest of the beach a no-vending zone. Of the beach’s total area, over 90% is now out of bounds for vendors.
From now on, the 1,035-metre stretch from the Light House to the swimming pool adjacent to the service road will be the vending zone. Vendors can also set up stalls in a single perpendicular lane leading up to the beach front.
Visitor experience
“The beach will have 11 bays for vendors. Most of the Marina beach will be no-vending zones. This will enable the visitors to have a full view of the beach without any hindrance. We will provide safety and security for the tourists. Additional high-mast lamps along the beach will be commissioned,” an official said.
Following the constitution of the vending committee of 15 members, Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan and City Police Commissioner A.K.Viswanathan inspected the beach on Saturday and kick-started work on earmarking the zones.
According to the officials, the number of vendors on the beach was estimated to be 1,900. In 2015, the civic body restricted the vendors to five zones in five rows perpendicular to the service road. Now, this has been restricted to a line parallel to the service road.
Distribution of biometric identity cards has been completed for 1,477 vendors. “Rest of the vendors are yet to be enumerated,” said an official. The Corporation will check double entries in the names of vendors to prevent misuse.
High Court order
The Corporation noticed a sudden rise in the number of vendors in 2015 from 1,489 in 2014 on the 3.1 km stretch. Following the direction of the High Court, the civic body initiated measures to regulate vending in the beach. In 2015, rows of shops were formed along spots such as the Kannagi Statue, Gandhi Statue and Triumph of Labour Statue where entry of vehicles from Kamarajar Salai was permitted by the traffic police.
The High Court had already directed the State government to implement schemes to regulate vendors on the beach. In 2014, the Chennai Corporation submitted to the Supreme Court that as per the last enumeration there were about 1,489 hawkers in the area.