Lod Canal off limits to vendors during the day
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Street stalls no longer stretch along the Lod Canal in Bangkok during daytime following new regulations, which now ban them before 7pm.
No vendors want to defy the new rules and risk possible legal prosecution, even if it means their livelihood is at stake.
“Perhaps, I’ll have to seek loans for my grandchildren’s schooling,” a beverage vendor said sadly.
Identifying herself only as Oi, the 65-year-old vendor previously sold carbonated drinks to people in the area during daytime. She sometimes ran her stall at night too to get extra income.
But from May 1, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) banned street stalls along the Lod Canal during the day. Commercial activities can only go on between 7pm and 3am.
“Things are getting tough. Other vendors were selling carbonated drinks during the night before me,” Oi said.
A dessert vendor, 50, said she used to open her stall around 5pm and would earn some Bt200 by 7pm.
“So, it means my income has shrunk since the new rule takes effect,” Nok said.
Issarachon Foundation’s secretary-general Natee Sorawaree said some vendors by the Lod Canal were in fact homeless and pushed out of Sanam Luang years ago.
“The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has put the venue before affected people,” Natee said. He believed the ban on trade activities during the day hurt about 1,000 vendors.
“Their family members are also affected. Together, this new rule has hurt over 4,000 people.”
He feared the loss of income may push some vendors back to criminal activities.
“When they lose their livelihood, they might commit crimes again,” he pointed out, indicating that some vendors had criminal records.
Natee also asked why the BMA allowed anti-government protesters to stay around Sanam Luang but strictly chased away homeless people.
Deputy Bangkok Governor Pusadee Temthai denied that the city administration had resorted to double standards.
“We are taking care of people’s lives equally,” she said, explaining that the BMA needed to think about commuters’ safety too, given that crimes had often taken place in the Lod Canal area.
Pusadee said those genuinely homeless could go to Ban Imjai.
“Ban Imjai can accommodate about 200 people. The homeless can find shelters there,” she said. “We will continue to communicate with them and use peaceful means. We will talk till both sides agree on mutual solutions.”
Wiangsawan Kaewsalee, 38, has been selling rice with omelettes by Lod Canal from a pushcart for some time. She said she used to be homeless but now manages to rent a room. “Now, I have got a means of livelihood,” she said.
When she sees city police coming, she simply pushes her cart away to avoid arrest.
While the new rule hits the lives of many, it does promise some benefits.
“With street stalls and homeless people around, the area looked untidy and dirty,” Jirasin Yingyongsaksri said.
The 20-year-old student said he had heard some homeless people had urinated and excreted into the canal while some vendors used the canal water to wash their dishes.
“So, I think it’s good to regulate the area,” he said.
Another student, however, saw the problem differently.
“I think the BMA should improve the area for vendors instead of forcing them to ply their trade during the night. Have they thought about the safety of vendors who have to come out to work at night?” Mukrawee Deebukkham said, noting that passers-by like to buy things from street stalls too.
“Under the scorching sun, sometimes I want to buy a cold drink. But now, there are no street stalls to sell me some.”
But a vendor who has long plied his trade at night by Lod Canal saw no problem with the new rule. “Most customers show up during the night anyway,” he said.
