A vendor dismantles his kiosk before the enforcement squad reaches for eviction at Market Building in Unit-II on Wednesday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 11: Officials of the municipal corporation today started the process of evicting illegal vendors from Market Building in Unit-II.

The civic authority will identify the authorised vendors within three days so that they can be issued identity cards and thus rule out any future confusion. The officials will also demarcate space for the identified vendors.

The permanent shop owners of Market Building had on September 2 sat on an indefinite strike and shut down their shops protesting against the illegal vendors who have occupied space within the market. They alleged that with these vendors encroaching upon space and part of the road inside the market, a large number of people prefer not to visit the complex.

However, the traders had withdrawn their agitation after the corporation officials promised that the unauthorised vendors would be evicted within a week. The eviction drive was delayed because the police were preoccupied with President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit. The drive began today.

Corporation additional commissioner Krushna Prasad Pati said: “On September 2, we came across 146 vendors who had valid documents to do business at the market. However, more such claims, including status quo granted by courts, have come to our notice and now we have to divide the available space in the market among 246 street vendors.’’

Assistant commissioner, recovery, Sumita Behera said that apart from demarcating the area for the vendors, a joint committee consisting of officials of the civic administration, members of the permanent shop owners’ association and vendors would be constituted to verify the identity of the vendors. “Once this process is completed, the vendors with identity cards can operate in the market.”

Secretary, Central Market Association, Pradyumna Kumar Jena said: “We have no problem with the number of vendors who are going to sit inside the market swelling from the initial 146 to 246, but they should be authorised.”

“There was a time when Market Building in Unit-II was the most popular shopping complex in the city. However, the place became cluttered with an unusually high number of vendors operating there. The civic body’s drive will make it a better place,” said Mrutyunjay Tripathy, a resident of Siripur.