The Ramanathapuram municipal officials have launched a drive against encroachments inside the new bus stand and removed all the pavement shops for the convenience of passengers.
The new bus stand served as an important junction, catering to hundreds of passengers daily, but they faced hardship due to the encroachments all inside the terminus, right from the two entrances.
After Collector K. Nanthakumar expressed concern over the encroachments in the previous meeting of Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs), a team led by Municipal Commissioner B Mohamed Siraj and officials, including Town planning officer Saroja, removed all the encroachments on Wednesday.
A majority of them were fruit sellers and some of them had erected permanent structures, officials said.
“Some small vendors depend upon the shops for their livelihood but we have no option but to remove them as they posed inconveniences to the passengers,” Mr Siraj said.
The officials, with the help of sanitary workers, removed all the structures, fruits and eatables in a truck with full police protection. The-more-than-two-hour-long drive went on smoothly, Deputy Superintendent of Police R Annamalai Azhawar said.
After a gap of 10 days, the vendors would again encroach upon the area and the municipality proposed to launch the drive every month, he said.
The municipality offered to provide them alternative place at the nearby Uzhavar Sandai, but the hawkers would not go there, he said.
