Kandy Mayor L.B. Aluvihare yesterday said that the Kandy police had bypassed the Municipal Ordinance and marked out spaces for pavement hawkers along the Dalada Veediya.  He said the police had no authority whatsoever to allocate space on the pavements according to their own volition. The City was governed by the Municipal Ordinance as much as in other local authority areas, he said.

The Mayor said he had received a letter from the Presidential Secretariat seeking space for pavement hawkers who had met the President and had requested some space on the pavement. “They have even suggested a two foot square area,” the Mayor said. But, Mayor Aluvihare had replied to the Presidential Secretariat and said as long as the local Authorities were governed by the Municipal Ordinance, Section 52 of the Ordinance applied that he was not in a position to comply. He said he would be found fault with by the Ordinance and also by the Council for allowing pavement Hawkers along Dalada Veediya.

The Mayor expressly said it was the decision of the Council to remove all pavement Hawkers from the pavements which were meant for pedestrians. He added that there were a number of complaints against these pavement hawkers by the public and that was why a decision had been taken by the Council to remove all pavement hawkers and allow them to do business in another area. The Kandy Municipal Commissioner had acted on this decision and the pavements were cleared. The Mayor said that the public appreciated the Council’s  endeavor. He said that Councillors were even ready to defend the Commissioner for his action, acting on the decision of the Council. Mayor Aluvihare said that even the President had on and off spoken regarding Kandy and had called upon the Council to keep the city clean. If the pavement hawkers were allowed, the situation would worsen, he added.