The Greater Chennai Corporation had informed the Madras High Court in January that it will frame separate and specific bylaws for regulating hawkers in beaches. The submission was made before a Division Bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and Anita Sumanth by Additional Advocate General SR Rajagopal representing the Corporation. In the months that followed, the Corporation conducted a survey of the beach and has shortlisted 1500 vendors, who will receive a permanent spot in the beach.
"The designs are ready. We will be introducing sleek and standardised carts that will be given to all vendors in the beach. Based on the survey we conducted we have 1500 vendors on the beach and this will be the permanent number. No additional people will be allowed to set up stalls in the beach," says a source in the know of the project. "Three categories of stalls have been identified, the predominant of which is food stalls. So, the aim is to not let them sprawl out as they do now, with chairs across the beach. They will all be given the cart by the Corporation with labels and names. They will in turn pay a minimal rent to the Corporation. This project will be implemented in beaches across the city," he adds.
"The challenge will be to maintain the number of stalls and the area they occupy," says the source. "We will have a joint enforcement committee consisting of the police and Corporation officials to monitor Marina," he adds.
The aim of the project is to enable space accessibility and improve the appearance of the beach. In addition to this, the Corporation looks to monitor hygiene standards maintained by the vendors.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that the Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board have already initiated work to set up 360-degree cameras across the beach in order to aid crime investigations.