Beach Road Of Pondicherry To Get A Facelift

The Beach Road (Promenade or Rock Beach) of Puducherry is prepped for its monsoon cleaning, as the Puducherry Municipal Authorities have begun the process of relocating the mobile cart vendors and hawkers near the Gandhi statue to a new location in the beach area. The order for relocation came from Lieutenant Governor Ajay Kumar Singh.

The Rock Beach is one of the most prominent tourist spots of Puducherry, and the unregulated hawking has had raised cries of outrage from tourists and authorities alike.

The authorities felt that the hawking is marring the aesthetic beauty of the beach front.

According to a report by The Hindu, S. Rajamanickam, Puducherry Municipal Commissioner, has said, “We have to do a balancing act of beautifying the beach so as to attract the tourists on the one side and rehabilitating vendors on the other. We identified a place behind the Promenade Hotel and the hawkers have agreed to move there. The trader’s complex is coming up here at a cost of Rs. 45 lakh.”

The mobile carts selling products varying from sea shells to compact disks and the innumerable food stalls have spread, taking up a most of the place on the beach leaving little space to walk. And wastes from these shops, including paper plates, cups, left over food could be found lying on the beach road. Despite the efforts of the Municipality, which has installed a large number of dustbins, the garbage is still strewn all over the place.

In an effort to keep the beach a clean and pollution free zone, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Puducherry had ordered the civic authorities to remove the cart vendors, in the early 2011. However, the Puducherry Kadarkarai Siru Viyaparigal Nala Sangam (beach small traders’ welfare association) had appealed to the Madras High court demanding a fair mechanism for the relocation. Following the court order, a meeting was held last June to decide the relocation process of the beach vendors.

The beach vendors have been doing this business for over three-decades and relocating them would affect their business tremendously. But after a long legal battle, the authorities have succeeded in convincing the vendors to move out. A consent letter was given by the vendors a few weeks ago and a deadline of one month has been set for the completion of relocation.

Although the move promises to promote tourism, many who throng the beach for an evening walk with their weekly dose of sundals and pani puris and cotton candies are sure to be left disappointed.