Peddlers complain of toll road ban

TANGERANG: About 300 peddlers eking out a living selling food and drinks at the Cikupa toll road gate in Tangerang are planning to hold a protest rally against their evictions by the toll road operator.

Pasir Gadung village chairman M. Dahlan said on Monday that they planned to protest against PT Jasa Marga, who they believed had issued the ban.

He said they would protest the policy as the vendors had nowhere else to go.

"We've been selling our food at the toll gate. But now the security officers there always drive away all the vendors trying to peddle their goods," Dahlan said, adding the measures were causing suffering.

One of the peddlers, Sairan, 34, said they had asked the company to allow them to sell food at the tollgate because it was the only source of income for 80 percent of the village.

In anticipation of any protest, PT Jasa Mara subsidiary PT Marga Mandala Sakti, which manages the toll road from Bitung to Cikupa, had requested security assistance from the police.

Company spokesman Edi Satiadi said he had invited village representatives to discuss the issue, but none had come to his office. The company plan to evict the traders as they have disturbed the traffic. --JP