Bhubaneswar: Vendors doing business from eye-catching, but illegally set up structures in the city are raking in more profit in comparison to their legal counterparts.

The vendors, who have set up illegal kiosks on encroached lands, have created extravagant structures for their shops, rendering the legal ones almost invisible.

As a result, the illegal vending zones have become more prominent, and in the process, drawing more customers than the legal kiosks situated right next to them.

"Our shops no longer look good despite having uniform colour and shape. Thos who have encroached on land near us have violated uniformity and set up shops of their own choice. Those shops sport a better look than ours, and attract more customers," said Dinesh Kar, a vendor near Kalpana Square.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had developed vending zones in various parts of the city and rehabilitated vendors to regulate street vending and give it a uniform look.

But, the initiative has not yielded the desired results as several illegal vending zones are cropping up and doing brisk business.

The civic body has about 46 vending zones, from where about 22,000 vendors run business, including mobile repair shops, bookstores, flower shops, furniture, food and meal kiosks and fast food joints.

But, a reality check by The Telegraph on Tuesday revealed that a number of shops had been set up near the vending zones without the civic permission. The situation is worse at the vending zones near Kalpana Square, Fire Station Square, Niladri Vihar and Kalinga Hospital.

In 2006, the civic body had decided to build vending zones to rehabilitate and organise the street vendors. Earlier, vendors of a certain area had formed their own associations and applied to the civic body for space. A civic committee then allotted a suitable space after scrutinising the applications. The vendors' association, with the civic approval, then constructed the zones using own funds in accordance with the corporation's design.

Since 2014, the civic body's town vending committee has been identifying street vendors and building vending zones for their rehabilitation. Each vendor has to pay Rs 500 as rent each month.

On the other hand, an illegal venture requires more investment, and in turn, draws more profit.

An illegal vendor, who set up a fast food kiosk near the vending zone at Fire Station Square, told The Telegraph that he had paid money to some "influential local residents" to get both the spot and an assurance of security.

"I approached one of my friends with the idea of opening a shop. I had tried to get a shop at the vending zone, but didn't get one," said the vendor, requesting anonymity.

The vendor said that as he had failed to get a licence to set up the shop at the legal zone, his friend took him to some people - who claimed to be local residents and assured them of a place near Fire Station Square.

"I paid the money and they assured me of security. They also claimed to be from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. I did not delve into the nitty-gritty. I just wanted a place and I got it," he said.

However, the vendor failed to show any receipt for the money paid to the alleged civic officials. He is among many others, who claim to have paid the "civic officials" in a similar manner.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, refuted such allegations and denied having appointed anyone to dole out spots. He assured action against those, who were manipulating the vendors in the name of the civic body.

"We periodically remove such illegal shops and instruct our officials in charge of various vending zones to warn the vendors about such people," the mayor said.