Despite nuts cart explosion

NO ATTEMPT has been made to curtail activities of illegal street vendors operating within Port-of-Spain following last Thursday’s explosion at the corner of Charlotte Street and Independence Square.

That explosion was reportedly caused by a leaking gas cylinder underneath a gas stove operated by a street nuts vendor. Four persons were injured in the explosion, which raised the ire of PoS Mayor Murchison Brown.

In fact, a tough-talking Brown last week said efforts would be made to enforce regulations to deal with illegal street vending (including the possibility of a greater police presence in the city), but a cursory check of several streets in the capital showed that the vendors were out in full force.

When Newsday returned to the Brian Lara Promenade and Charlotte Street intersection, the scene of last week’s explosion, the mangled wreckage of the nuts cart and an old shopping trolley which was secured to a nearby lightpole by a heavy padlock and chain were still there. While the number of vendors within the immediate vicinity of the blast was small, they were nonetheless present and conducting a brisk trade.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, several vendors told Newsday it was “business as usual” for them and last week’s explosion was an accident.

They added that in the aftermath of the blast, no one attempted to remove them from their present locations.

Vendors were also visible in other parts of the city, including a nuts vendor (operating a cart similar to the one destroyed in last Thursday’s blast).