TEAM HERALD
PONDA: About 50 footpath vendors and hawkers in Ponda open market have decided to leave the footpath and sell their products from inside the market shed from Monday.
Speaking to media, Ponda market vendors’ committee president Kishore Mamlekar said the footpath vendors had assured their support to Ponda market vendors.
Welcoming their decision, Mamlekar stated that it was also a public demand not to do business on the footpaths.
According to Mamlekar, earlier the vendors in the market shed were agitating against the hiked sopo, but now these vendors, who were paying sopo tax to sopo collector, are also joining them. “Some of these vendors are also having their own spaces in the market and the footpath vendors without any space will be accommodated by all the vendors in the market shed,” he said.
“Vendors in the market shed always opposed vending on footpaths, as it blocked the footpaths and also created parking problems.”
It may be recalled that Ponda market vendors in the shed were not paying the hiked sopo tax to PMC sopo collector. However, the footpath vendors in the open market who were regularly paying sopo tax to the sopo contractor suddenly decided to leave the footpath and do their business in the market shed.
