Illegal occupation of footpaths

The illegal occupation of roadsides by the street vendors always remained in the news for pushing the commuters and pedestrians to the wall, but the situation kept worsening from time to time as the government failed to take appropriate steps to ensure the removal of illegal occupation of the roadsides. After the busiest markets, the face of tourism, Dal Lake, in Dalgate area of Srinagar, has witnessed the illegal occupation of footpaths here. People in large number including the tourists from different places of the country, visit Dal Lake on every evening, but the illegal occupation of footpaths is leaving them to lurch at large. One fails to understand why the authorities are allowing the vendors to erect their carts at the place. There are people, who blame the vendors for defaming Kashmir by allegedly selling fake items to the visitors on the name of handicrafts and other related things. Besides, the shopkeepers have also claimed that the vendors have made them jobless as selling the fake and fabricated products at less rates compared to the original products to them is attracting the customers. The selling of fake items as well as the illegal occupation of footpaths is giving bad impression to the tourists, thus, there is a need to take appropriate action in this regard and ensure that the footpaths are not allowed to be occupied illegally by anyone so that the visitors could heave a sigh of relief.