By Denise Balgobin Sunday, June 29 2008

click on pic to zoom in

Marlene Ragoonan, right, and Deborah Christopher, third from right, with some of the other concerned vendors at the San Juan market. They are standing...

Several haberdashery vendors who ply their trade close to the San Juan Market are concerned that they are being prevented from earning an honest living.

Shamila Samaroo, spokesperson for the group of about 12 vendors, related their plight to Sunday Newsday recently.

She said that the vendors sell their goods on weekends outside the market and have been doing so for many years, but recently they have been ordered to stop by officials from the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation.

“We were told that we would only be allowed to sell inside the market,” Samaroo stated. “The Corporation had informed us previously that the upstairs area of the market would be available for us, but there is no space for us there.”

The ground level of the market, in close proximity to fresh produce, fish and meat vendors, is where the haberdashery vendors said the Corporation wants them to go.

However, due to the items they sell, such as clothing, housewares, cosmetics and other non-perishables, they said this is impossible.

“Our goods may get wet or smell if they come into contact with the perishable food items,” stated vendors Marlene Ragoonan and Deborah Christopher.

The two are both single mothers who have no other source of income to take care of their children, they told Sunday Newsday.

The group stated that in the past few weeks, when they try to ply their goods on Cordatinta Avenue, they have been chased away by police officers, who warned them they were hindering vehicular traffic.

Samaroo stated that she and others in the group, have made several attempts to meet with any official of the Corporation, but they have always been turned away.

“We just want to explain our situation to the Corporation and hopefully ask them to give us a suitable space to sell, but they are not even willing to meet with us,” she complained.

Chairman of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation, Richard Walcott, told Sunday Newsday that he has not received any official request from any market vendor with respect to having any meeting about getting space in the market.

“I have also spoken to officials at the San Juan market and they too have not received any complaints about vendors not being able to get a space to sell.”

Walcott admitted though that the market was usually more crowded on weekends than during the week, since more vendors turn out then.

He said that a committee had recently been appointed within the Corporation to examine the issue of vending at the Croisee. “We are concerned about vending in general and hopefully the committee will be able to find a solution that will benefit all involved. We plan to look at the situation of vending in Port-of- Spain to see if it can relate to San Juan.”

Walcott added that construction of a new and modern market is slated to begin later this year. When this building is completed, he promised there will be sufficient allocations for every type of item normally sold in a market.