Traders take initiatives to keep street clean

Tirupati: In a laudable gesture, the traders of Chinna Bazar street in Tirupati came forward to keep the busy commercial area in the city clean and tidy. The traders in the street in the heart of the city joined together in proposing to the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati to permit them to take up the task of up keep of their busy commercial area which the corporation readily agreed.

The traders proposed to engage two workers at their own cost to work in two shifts from 8 am to 9 pm in the street to collect the waste from the shops and also clear any garbage or litter on the street to make it clean and tidy.

Chinna Bazar Street Traders Association president Malisetty Ravi sad that to supplement the effort of the corporation which will take care of the sanitation including drainage cleaning, sweeping the road in the morning, the association decided to take the responsibility of shop to collection of garbage from the 150 shops in the street.

“Ours is the oldest commercial area in the pilgrim city which was the route earlier for Tirumala pilgrims and now it has emerged busy but a crowded commercial area with various businesses including jewellery, vessels, cloth and readymade garments, fancy, stationary and books, medical, eateries etc.

We felt that having our own arrangement for collection of waste from shops will be more effective, as the workers will be available during the business hours i.e. throughout the day unlike municipal workers who collect the garbage only in the morning.

This may not suitable for some shops resulting in the dumping of garbage on road side or in the drain making the area unclean. “Further, the worker also clear any waste dropped by the public on the street,’’ he said, explaining the reason behind taking up the novel idea.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner V Vijay Rama Raju speaking at the Chinna Bazar traders meeting held on Monday, as preparatory excise to commence new arrangement from November 1, lauding the traders wanted them to develop the street as a model in cleanliness to inspire traders in other areas follow suit which would go a long way to make the famous pilgrim city cleanliest in the nation.

He wanted the traders to go in for uniform steps leading to the shops, avoiding occupying the road area and assured to provide mechanical sweeping of the commercial street. 

SPDCL Superintendent Engineer DV Chalapathi said that the SPDCL is ready to extend the underground cable network to the bazar street to replace electric poles and overhead power lines to make it the narrow road wider.

Tirupati Chamber of Commerce (TCC) president A Manjunath, who was behind the initiative, said the TCC will strive to extend the experiments to other commercial areas with the support of traders to ease the burden on the corporation struggling with the handling of collection and disposal of garbage in the city generating about 165 tonne waste daily which is more compared to other towns due to the huge pilgrim population. 

On Wednesday, a rally was taken out by the traders in which local MLA M Suguna, TUDA Chairman G Narasimha Yadav and Corporation Commissioner Vijay Rama Raju from Ramulavari Gudi street to Gandhi road covering Chinna Bazar Street, to mark the formal inauguration of the new initiative.