The Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Wednesday has decided to provide relief to small vendors and announced that the small vendors at Agartala who would open makeshift stalls along the roadside for summer sale popularly known as ‘Chaitra Mela’ need not pay any fees or tax.
Ending a daylong meeting with the officials of the AMC and other stakeholders over the ‘Chaitra Mela’, the AMC Mayor Deepak Majumder said, “Keeping in view of the losses suffered by the small-scale vendors during the COVID pandemic situation in the state, the AMC this year has decided to provide some reliefs to the small vendors and not to collect any fees or taxes from them during the Chaitra mela here at Agartala.”
The traditional mela will start from April 1. It is set to be held after a two-year break following the Covid pandemic.
“The vendors will not be allowed to build any permanent structural shops along the roadside, but they can easily do their business under the open sky this season and they are not required to pay any amount to the AMC,” he said.
The mayor said that earlier the AMC used to collect Rs. 200 from each vendor along the roadside during the Chaitra fair.
This year the AMC has allotted the road side of Agartala Sukanta road, Children’s Park road and inside the Children’s park to set up stalls for the ensuing Chaitra fair, he told reporters. The Mayor however sought cooperation from all to ease the small-scale vendors this Chaitra fair.
Around 200 to 230 vendors, who applied for participating in the Chaitra Mela, would be allotted space at Sakuntala Road while another 300 vendors would be accommodated at the Children’s Park, the Mayor said.
