'Get out': Final deadline looms for JJ Green vendors

'Get out': Final deadline looms for JJ Green vendors

Vendors at Jatujak Green Night Market, the nocturnal offshoot of Chatuchak Weekend Market, prepare to leave as their lease’s are up. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Vendors at Jatujak Green Night Market, the nocturnal offshoot of Chatuchak Weekend Market, prepare to leave as their lease’s are up. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

Vendors must leave JJ Green Market by Thursday or see their belongings removed by city officials despite some confusion over when their lease agreements expire, officials said on Monday. The night market is located near Chatuchak Park.

Representatives of the market vendors claim their contracts do not expire until Oct 12 but City Hall insists the correct date has already passed as it fell on Sept 12.

They will be given one "last chance" to clean out their belongings until "11.59pm of Sept 19", said Natthanan Kanlayasiri, who serves as the assistant secretary of Pol Gen Aswin Kwanmuang, the governor of Bangkok.

Any vendors who fail to comply with the order and related deadline will have their stalls and other equipment taken away, and the city will not be held liable for any damage incurred, he said.

As of this weekend, many market sellers had still not relocated their goods and assets despite repeated warnings, Mr Natthanan said.

Officials said they are facing time constraints to clear the area before handing it over to its landlord, the Queen Sirikit Park Foundation.

The land will reportedly be developed by the environment and public parks departments under a project dubbed "Utthayan Suan Chatuchak" that will see three major parks -- Chatuchak, Queen Sirikit and Wachirabenchathat -- merge into a 700-rai mega-park by 2020.

Affected vendors can seek help from the JJ Green Market management, said Thawatchai Sombun, chief of construction and restoration under the city's Department of Public Works.

He was informed the management has returned all vendors' deposits and suggested new areas where they can continue doing business, including Chatuchak Playground next to the Bang Sue junction building opposite Chatuchak weekend market.

Some of the vendors at JJ Green moved there after being banned from footpaths as part of a previous clear-up campaign.

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