Vendors to be evicted in Games clean-up

The clean-up drive for the Commonwealth Games may now start hitting neighbourhood services most Delhiites depend on. With encroachments being seen as a major security risk, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, along with the police, is now evicting roadside vegetable sellers, cobblers, those ironing clothes, panwallahs and illegal vendors selling clothes, food etc.

Said MCD commissioner K S Mehra, ‘‘Encroachment removal action is going on everywhere in the city. Action will be initiated against anybody who is encroaching on public place. Apart from authorized vendors, all roadside sellers will be removed by MCD.’’

Deep Mathur, MCD press and information director, said the civic agency does not issues licences to cobblers, local vegetable sellers on push-carts, and ‘presswallahs’.