Street vendor holdouts, YCDC on crash course over relocation plan
Tensions are mounting between Yangon City Development Committee and the commercial capital’s street vendors, as a small contingent refuses to move stalls from their locations on Anawrahta Road. Following a recently announced ban on street stalls on Yangon’s 11 busiest roads, YCDC staff have been travelling around the downtown area with loudspeakers, informing vendors that they must relocate their stalls to the city’s side streets or to a newly designated night bazaar on Strand Road. But a group of vendors on Anawrahta Road between 38th and Seik Kan Thar streets are refusing to move, thumbing their nose at the YCDC directive. “We want fairness. They have told us not to sell on the main road and that they will seize our goods. But if we are not allowed to sell here, where will we operate?” asked Anawrahta Road fruit vendor Ma Malar.
