Street vendors driven out

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A joint operation by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and the Fort Police on Tuesday saw more than 300 hawkers being driven out from the neighbourhood of the high-profile Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. The evictions will continue on Wednesday, the police said.  Vendors who had set up stalls on all four sides of the temple are being cleared out. The Corporation had announced the evictions with the temple and its immediate environs abruptly becoming a high security zone after the discovery of priceless riches in the temple vaults. A few vendors had left the area following the Corporation’s decision, but the majority had hung on hoping against hope that the decision would be rolled back at the last moment. But nothing of the sort happened on Tuesday morning.  The publicity explosion following the discovery of the treasure trove has triggered a spurt in the flow of devotees and curious visitors to the temple, providing a steady income for the vendors. As many of the vendors belong to other states, the evictions have so far gone off without incident, although the vendors are quite clueless about what their fate is to be. That the evictions have come just ahead of Onam have added to their woes. In addition to this, the Corporation has not prepared any resettlement package for them on the grounds that they are unauthorised. ‘’The evictions so far have proceeded without incident. No one resisted,’’ said Fort CI Anil Kumar. ‘’The evictions will continue on Wednesday,’’ he said.  On Tuesday morning, the Health Inspector and the police had jointly conducted a headcount of the street vendors ahead of the evictions.  The entire Fort area falls within the high security zone declared by the police, who have taken charge of security at the temple. The presence of hundreds of households, commercial establishments and the steady flow of devotees from across the country already pose a stiff challenge to security here. Meanwhile, the Corporation is set to discuss the fate of the street vendors immediately outside the Fort area and the nearby Putharikandam Maidan on August 29.