By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: An illegal eviction drive was conducted against hawkers and road side vendors on Saturday evening drawing severe criticism from the affected vendors.
Road side vendors alleged that a group of people, claiming to officials of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) forcibly evicted the hawkers at around 8 PM.
The eviction group was acting on their own as no magistrate or police was present at the spot, the vendors claimed.
The hawkers also alleged that the so called workers of the SMB were drunk and they conducted nuisance in the area.
“The illegal eviction drive also scared away the pedestrians,” the hawkers added.
Police clarified that the persons who convicted the eviction drive had claimed to be an official of the SMB.
When contacted, SMB Chief Executive Officer T Lyngwa denied the Board’s involvement in the incident.
“Fact is that we conducted the eviction drive till 7.30 PM and after that some unauthorized people went there and created a ruckus,” he added.
“The SMB has nothing to do with the incident and the Board would not take any responsibility for any unauthorized eviction,” he said, adding, “When we conduct eviction drives we do it officially and in the presence of magistrates.”
Police, meanwhile, informed that no arrest has been made since no complaint has been lodged in the case.
