'It's our livelihood': Evicted 2 months ago, vendors back in Noida's Atta market

NOIDA: Barely two months after a massive drive by Noida Authority in November-end to free the footpath at the Sector 27 Atta market of encroachments, things are back to square one. Hawkers have flocked back, taking up the walking space freed in the drive to make space for pedestrians. The market has entry and exit points to the Sector 18 metro station, with vendor stalls now back at those points too. Apart from the vendors, abrupt parking has returned, with vehicles covering a part of the road.
Most vendors, who are back, said it is "a question of their livelihood". "We are all back. Some of the street vendors have been here for more than a decade," said one such vendor, who did not wish to be named. Claiming that shifting to other locations or vending zones hampers their livelihood, the vendors said shoppers come to the Sector 27 Atta market in large numbers. On the other hand, the designated vending zones, one located near the Botanical Garden Metro station, remain relatively desolate, according to the vendors.
Visitors to the Atta market TOI spoke to claimed that the November anti-encroachment drive seemed to have yielded no results. Shivani Singh, a homemaker shopping in the market, said, "Encroachments are back on the footpaths again. It was an eye wash in the name of an anti-encroachment drive. Finally, the ineffectiveness of the drive is for all to see." The problem of illegal hawking becomes an eyesore in the evening when vendors expand their shops, almost occupying the footpath. "It becomes chaotic, post-sunset," said a trader at the market.
Officials of the Noida Authority said their teams regularly monitor city areas and would look into the encroachments returning to the Atta market on priority. During the November drive, the Noida Authority officials warned of action if the vendors returned to the Atta market.
The Sector 29 Brahmaputra market also saw an anti-encroachment drive in November last year, after which the Noida Authority shifted the vendors to Sector 37. The vendors have been protesting the move, claiming their business has suffered at the new location due to an open drain behind their shops and the lack of other facilities. Some of them have again set up their eateries and dine-in sets on the footpath at the Brahmaputra market.
Badal (22), a vendor shifted from the Brahmaputra market, said, "In the Sector 37 vendng zone, there is an open drain right behind our shops. Earlier, people walked around our shops, eating and buying clothes, but the foul smell now keeps them away. There are pipelines, which open into our shops, and when it rains, the drain overflows into our shops, and we have to close."