Fruit vendors on state highways passing via Mohali make spots vulnerable to accidents

MOHALI: Acknowledging that presence of fruit vendors on state highways makes them more vulnerable to accidents, the deputy commissioner of

Mohali

, Gurpreet Kaur Sapra, said it was the duty of area SDMs to enforce orders and ensure that all highways were free of such vendors.


A TOI team found that fruit sellers have settled themselves on highways that pass via Mohali, thereby posing threat to vehicles and making spots more prone to accidents.

Areas most prone to accidents due to the presence of fruit vendors are Mohali-Kharar National Highway (NH-95) near Balongi; Zirakpur-Derabassi highway and Kharar-Banur connecting highway near Moteymajra village.

It was observed that there were 50 to 60 fruit vendors on the stretch between Balongi and Mundi Kharar. Similarly, the road connecting Kharar with

Banur

had 30 to 40 fruit sellers.

Even stretch between Zirakpur and Derabassi has become accident prone due to fruit sellers, who have lined up along the highway.

Meanwhile, Kharar SDM Vinod Kumar Bansal failed to justify as to why DM’s orders that were issued a year ago were not complied with. “We will immediately get the vendors removed,” he said.

‘Stickers on fruits toxic’

The

food safety

commissioner of Punjab has directed food safety officials to ask traders shun selling fruits and vegetables that have stickers pasted on them.

“Pasting stickers on fruits and vegetables to provide information like traceability, grade, and price is a common practice across the globe. A lot of times, these stickers are applied directly on fruits like apples, kiwis, mangoes, oranges, bananas and pears. Traders use stickers to make their product look premium or hide defects. These stickers have adhesives, which if consumed could prove harmful,” said commissioner.