Imphal, Nov. 15: Three days after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurated three newly constructed women’s markets here, women street vendors here have raised the pitch for proper accommodation.

The street vendors held a meeting at Manipur Press Club here today to discuss their problems. The meeting warned the government of an agitation if their demands were not met.

“We will launch an agitation if the government fails to provide us proper accommodation for continuing our businesses after the women vendors shift from the temporary market to the newly inaugurated market complexes,” Somola Devi, a street vendor, warned today.

Another street vendor, Mema Devi, also warned of an agitation if the government failed to issue licences and provide accommodation for them.

The Okram Ibobi Singh government is yet to fix a date for shifting of women vendors to the newly opened complexes. Sources said the state government would first constitute a management committee to maintain the markets and then fix the date to allow vendors to shift.

The state government constructed the three complexes after dismantling the old ones. Those in the old markets having licences for vending were shifted to a temporary market complex in the city, where they are now carrying on their business.

Official sources said only those vendors who had been shifted to the temporary market and had licences issued by the Imphal Municipal Council would be allowed to occupy shops in the new markets.

But there are hundreds of women street vendors without licences and they run their businesses on footpaths and even on portions of the city roads.

“We came to the city to eke out a living. As the government fails to give accommodation we have no other alternative than selling goods on the footpaths. Police often either seized our goods or throw them away. The government should give us the licence as well as accommodation in a proper market complex,” Shantirani Devi, another street vendor, said.