The busiest places of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir, might have witnessed developmental changes in the past over one year, but what remained unchanged is the illegal occupation of roadsides in several areas, especially in the commercial hub Lal Chowk as the street vendors continue to be seen occupying a large space of roads, causing huge inconvenience to the pedestrians as well as the commuters. Despite providing space to the street vendors to run their affairs, the roads continue to remain occupied by these street vendors in the commercial hub, who provide just a small space for the pedestrians to walk and reach their destinations. One fails to understand why the change has not been made in this regard as such an happening is not in the favour of the Smart city project as it hides the beautification and developmental changes in the commercial hub. In this regard, the authorities concerned seem reluctant to make sure that the street vendors are relocated to the places already provided to them. One fails to understand why there has been dilly dallying from the administration in issuing strict directions to the street vendors to shift to the already established vending zones. As the works under the smart city are almost coming to an end, the concerned needs to act tough in this regard and ensure that the street vendors, who occupy the roads, are shifted to the designated places so that the commuters as well as the pedestrians could heave a sigh of relief.
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