The street food of Thailand has offered many locals and travelers of its delightful treats, but a new policy might change all of that. The Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA) has announced of removing the city's street vendors' stalls by the end of 2017 to make way for pedestrian usage as well as instilling the health and safety concerns of residents and tourists by "sterilizing" the streets of their famous hawker stands.
Bangkok is considered as the world's famous city for street food, but officials wanted to follow their neighbor, Singapore, of its cleanliness. The Telegraph reported Bangkok's governor's chief adviser, Wanlop Suwandee, as saying, "The BMA is now working to get rid of the street vendors from all 50 districts of Bangkok and return the pavements to the pedestrians."
Suwandee mentioned that despite the government's attempt to offer the hawkers a place in the market, street vendors still take up the place in their pavements. In Siam, the policy has been implemented, while Yaowarat and Khao San Road are next in line, reported by The Lonely Planet.
The statute has earned the ire of many locals and Bangkok's own tourism industry. According to some people, the "cleaning out" of the hawkers' stalls is similar to getting rid of the city's culture. The business sector has implied that it will affect the livelihoods of many stall vendors and upset the charm of the district.
Not to mention that the banning of the stalls will heavily disturb travelers who seek the culinary food of Bangkok. The city in 2016 has surpassed London as the top international travel destination because of the culture it offers.
During the May 2014 military coup, Bangkok is gradually changing from its usual frenzied scene to a copy of Singapore. The military government is keen to clean up public areas to point out orderliness and safety concerns for everybody.
