Peddlers complain of toll road ban

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