GVMC Fells Trees for ₹2 Crore Vending Zone Near Pithapuram Colony, Sparks Row

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation's ₹2 crore street vending project along NH-16 near Pithapuram Colony has become mired in controversy. In Ward 22, under the guise of vendor rehabilitation, authorities have used excavators to fell trees and dig trenches inside a designated green belt to build permanent metal-and-concrete stalls with water pipelines and power connections. Urban planners, environmentalists, and residents have objected sharply to converting green buffer land for commercial use.

The project exposes a stark policy contradiction. Commissioner Ketan Garg had led "Operation Lungs," evicting over 3,000 unauthorized street vendors citywide while promising organized "Smart Vending Zones" across 98 wards. But instead of identifying proper vacant land, officials took a shortcut by targeting the NH-16 green belt, prompting critics to note the irony of a body that vowed to protect "urban lungs" now destroying them.

The construction violates existing law. Under G.O. Ms. No. 168, green belts are designated strictly for afforestation and parks, not commercial structures, and municipal bodies have power only to demolish unauthorized encroachments there, not build them. Supreme Court rulings have also held that municipal corporations hold green belts only as public trustees with no discretion to convert them for commercial use, calling such conversions a violation of Article 48-A of the Constitution.

The stretch between Maddilapalem and Isukathota already carries heavy traffic, and with no parking provision planned, vehicles are expected to spill onto the road, raising accident risks. The absence of a drainage system also threatens to clog stormwater drains with vendor waste, creating unsanitary conditions. Urban activists and resident welfare associations have urged authorities to halt the excavation immediately, relocate the vending zone to a suitable site, replant the felled trees, and investigate how funds were sanctioned for construction inside a protected green zone.