Civic officials fail to follow up on restriction, shops mushroom on shoreline again

Based on High Court injunctions, the civic body had aligned more than 1,900 shops, which were functioning in a haphazard manner, along a 2.8-kilometre stretch on Marina Beach. The officials removed the hawkers, who were squatting near the tideline, and allocated shops near the service road apart from restricting shops close to the sea.

During the regulation drive, the Chennai Corporation and city police had claimed that the shops close to the water were a reason for the illegal activities and assured that the drive would make the beach clean and safe.

When DT Next visited the beach on Sunday, several shops selling food items were found very close to the sea. Apart from many push carts selling ice creams and other items, several stationary shops have come up, which is against the authorities’ intention. “Visitors near the water will not go up to the service road to have food items. Due to the restrictions, our business was affected,” a shop owner said.

Even though the civic body warned the shop owners to not to use LPG cylinders for cooking on the beach and proposed a ban owing to safety concerns, the ban is yet to come into force. “While imposing regulations, Corporation commissioner and police commissioner personally inspected the works. But, the lack of follow up action lend the actions ineffective. The beach was neat and clean for the first few months,” M Barath, a beachgoer said.

Meanwhile, the Chennai Corporation delays the demarcating of vending and non-vending zones in the city despite street vending committees have been constituted in all the 15 zones. When asked a Chennai Corporation official, he said that the traffic police have to finalise the vending zones. “Only after the police approval, we will notify the vending and non-vending zones,” an official said.