Regional corporations monitoring street food vending activities

Two regional corporations are examining ways to regularise illegal vending on the streets to give people a fair chance to earn an income.

Chairman of the Debe/Penal regional corporation Dr Allen Sammy and chairman of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo regional corporation Henry Awong said there were people who needed this avenue to earn an income. They said the latest covid19 measures implemented by government have left many people unemployed or temporarily without jobs.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday Sammy said the idea still needed to be worked out to ensure that proper health regulations were followed and legal issues were covered.

“There are other activities being allowed and I do not see this as being any different, once the proper mechanisms are in place to ensure the health protocols are observed.”

On Thursday, the Prime Minister re-instated several restrictions to curb the spread of the covid19 virus as the number of people who contracted the virus increased. Among the measures included the closure of all restaurants and bars, malls while street food vending was allowed to operate.

Some restaurants such as Burger King, Royal Castle and Marios have also opted for roadside carts and trucks in effort to keep their businesses afloat.

Awong said the corporation was considering to establish a food strip to allow people to conduct their businesses legally.

He said food strips located at Cross Crossing in San Fernando, the Eddie Hart Savannah in Tacarigua or at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain were operated by the corporations, and they too would consider this venture.

“Everywhere you go at almost every corner there is someone selling food. In this covid19 situation we are reluctant to remove vendors in such situations. That would be inhumane.

“But we also have to do the correct thing. A food strip is an innovative way for the corporation to manage the situation by providing adequate facilities and sanitation in varying areas in this region.”

There have been concerns that by allowing street food vending, curbing the spread of the covid19 virus would be defeated as people would still gather in large numbers.

This was the case on Friday evening where several videos circulating on social media showed sizeable crowds at the Eddie Hart Savannah and at Cross Crossing.

On Saturday, San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello said they were trying really hard not to shut down the operations of the vendors and urged patrons to follow the guidelines to allow the vending to continue.

“There was a crowd last night (Friday), but we were able to disperse the crowd at 10 pm. There seemed to be some challenges with the owners of food carts and trucks where they have claimed that even though they stop at 10 pm they need time to dismount their equipment.

“We have to develop a guideline policy with the police to either cut the operating hours to 8 pm. In the interim, the police will be at the venue from 6 pm until closing time.”

Regrello said while the people present at Cross Crossing food strip were wearing masks, there was still significant gathering.

Attempts to contact Port of Spain Joel Martinez and deputy mayor Hillan Morean and Tunapuna/Piarco regional corporation chairman Kwesi Robinson about monitoring similar activities were unsuccessful on Saturday.

Sunday Newsday visited the Cross Crossing vending strip on Saturday evening, but customers were now starting to trickle in to purchase food. There were about seven carts that remained closed.

Customer Kerry Marshall said he understood the reasons for government’s decision but believed there were a lot of lower income earners temporarily displaced from the establishment targeted.

Vendors told Sunday Newsday they try as much as they could to enforce social distancing but their customers also needed to do their part to ensure street food vending was not shutdown.