THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has again moved to remove vendors who are selling illegally in the vicinity of Stabroek Market, following the death of Compton Lacon Monday.
The 74-year-old Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara, resident was struck down by a City Council trailer hauling a fuel tank as it travelled along Water Street, in the vicinity of the Bounty Supermarket in the city.
Speaking with the Government Information Agency, Town Clerk Yonette Pluck said that the vendors outside and at the side of the supermarket, and the congestion that subsequently obtains in the area during the day were contributing factors to Lacon’s demise.
She stated that officers were deployed to the area following the accident and were advising illegal vendors along Water Street and in the Stabroek Market vicinity that they would have been removed by yesterday if they do not dismantle their structures.
The Town Clerk noted that when the M&CC visited the scene of the accident, some vendors were seen removing from the area.
In January, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the M&CC intervened and cleared vendors who were selling illegally outside Stabroek Market, and on Water, America and Hinck Streets.
At the time, Minister Robeson Benn had advised that these structures present a risk and an encumbrance to the traffic and pedestrians.
The Ministries and the City Council have been hard-pressed over the years to remove these individuals permanently, despite provisions being made by government for them to carry out their commercial activities legally.
Following the January demolition exercise, 53 vendors were registered to continue selling outside the Stabroek Market, with clearly stated stipulations in place, while the others were relocated to designated areas in the city.
This intervention was made following the death of a man when a fragmentation grenade exploded near a stall on January 5, also injuring 19 others.
(GINA)