SHILLONG: With an aim to find a permanent solution to the perennial problem of encroachment along the important roads of the city by illegal hawkers, the State Government is contemplating to come up with a new initiative of encoding certain plots where hawkers will not be allowed to start any kind of business activities.
Informing this, the State Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said this move would de-congest the areas which are flooded with hawkers.
“These plots will be encoded with certain colours so that hawkers cannot infringe into the areas,” Lyngdoh said.
The hawkers and the Shillong Municipal Board usually play a cat and mouse game with each other as often hawkers tend to run for cover when the officials of the board comes for eviction and later returns to their respective places when the municipal authorities finishes their eviction drive.
Initially, the Urban Affairs department will target the stretch from Khyndailad till Bijou Cinema Hall.
The minister also castigated the shopkeepers who had given their land to the hawkers to run business.
The department is also contemplating to take legal action against the hawkers who infringe into the public land for their business activities in and around the city.
