A view of the Sakchi market. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Nov. 5 : Sakchi marketplace bore a new look today as there were no make-shift vendors or push-cart sellers in sight throughout the day.

The place was peaceful as there were no shouts of hawkers, even as the market place was bustling with shoppers.

What made the ambience different was that the shoppers were able to move in the marketplace with their two-wheelers and cars, something which had not been seen in the past two decades.

“I have been visiting this place for the past 15 years, but I have never seen the market place, especially the space facing the Bata Chowk, so clean and peaceful. For sometime it seemed as if I was in Bistupur market,” observed Gita Sinha, a housewife, while talking to The Telegraph.

Arvind Kumar, a shokeeper, while speaking on the market place said: “I hope Sakchi market, will remain like this .”

Until Sunday morning, Sakchi market was chaotic, as there were too many footpath vendors who sold goods by encroaching on the passage of the marketplace and in front of each of the pucca shops.

But the posting of inspector Surender Singh as the officer-in-charge of Sakchi police station and the assault on a shop owner by a group of makeshift vendors brought about a change in the place.

Taking strong exception to the incident of assault on Sarbjit Singh, the owner of the shop Combodge, the police inspector promptly vacated the vendors and push-cart sellers from the market place. Not only did he carry out the evacuation drive himself, the inspector convened a meeting of havildars and constables in Sakchi police station, and said he would recommend stern action against them if they were found in that area.

It was an open secret that the constables and havildars doing their rounds at Sakchi market used to encourage the vendors as well as the push-cart sellers to set up makeshift shops in the area. In return the policemen would collect a fix amount from the vendors on a regular basis.

Moreover, some local politicians have vested interest in backing the vendors. Whenever, any administrative action will be initiated, these politicians used to come in to rescue the vendors.

Interestingly, the vendors who sell their goods near Bata Chowk have shifted to Jhanda Chowk in Sakchi Market and have created congestion in that area as well.