Moutai plan forces out vendors
By Xu Chi |
May 17, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of vendors running small shops in Guizhou Province's Maotai Town are being forced to relocate by the local government to make way for a street devoted to selling the town's famous alcohol, a CCTV news program has revealed.
The town's government sent a law enforcement team, which included police officers and urban management officials, to the street, smashing the stores and goods of those vendors who refused to obey the relocation order, CCTV said.
The vendors, who have been running various small businesses on the street for many years, said that on March 1 they were given two days' notice to pack up and leave if they didn't switch their business to the selling of Moutai liquor.
Government officials told the vendors they were going to develop a brand new "alcohol street" to replace the old business street in a bid to promote Moutai and develop the town's tourism and alcohol industry, vendors told CCTV reporters.
There are more than 100 small shops on the business street, with about 40 involved in the alcohol business and the rest running other businesses such as groceries, pharmacies and restaurants.
The vendors from the 60-plus non-alcohol stores stand to lose tens of thousands of yuan they had spend on decorating their shops and their rental deposits if they were relocated, the program said.
The vendors told reporters that government officials told them that there would be no compensation and that they didn't care where they were relocated.
Yuan Rentao, vice director of the town government, was seen shouting at one vendor who refused to relocate his store.
"How dare you delay our town planning? Next time you challenge our law enforcement, you will be taken away for breaking the laws."
Vendors complained that law enforcement team smashed their stores using wooden clubs and hammers "just like robbers."
But Yuan told CCTV that the law enforcement team was doing its job legally, including confiscating vendors' goods, as "they were only trying to warn individuals not to affect the greater good with their own personal interests."
The town's government sent a law enforcement team, which included police officers and urban management officials, to the street, smashing the stores and goods of those vendors who refused to obey the relocation order, CCTV said.
The vendors, who have been running various small businesses on the street for many years, said that on March 1 they were given two days' notice to pack up and leave if they didn't switch their business to the selling of Moutai liquor.
Government officials told the vendors they were going to develop a brand new "alcohol street" to replace the old business street in a bid to promote Moutai and develop the town's tourism and alcohol industry, vendors told CCTV reporters.
There are more than 100 small shops on the business street, with about 40 involved in the alcohol business and the rest running other businesses such as groceries, pharmacies and restaurants.
The vendors from the 60-plus non-alcohol stores stand to lose tens of thousands of yuan they had spend on decorating their shops and their rental deposits if they were relocated, the program said.
The vendors told reporters that government officials told them that there would be no compensation and that they didn't care where they were relocated.
Yuan Rentao, vice director of the town government, was seen shouting at one vendor who refused to relocate his store.
"How dare you delay our town planning? Next time you challenge our law enforcement, you will be taken away for breaking the laws."
Vendors complained that law enforcement team smashed their stores using wooden clubs and hammers "just like robbers."
But Yuan told CCTV that the law enforcement team was doing its job legally, including confiscating vendors' goods, as "they were only trying to warn individuals not to affect the greater good with their own personal interests."
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