Eight hawkers who have been trading at Sri Kortumalai Pillayar in Little India in Kuala Lumpur, want to stay put and are against the move by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to relocate them to the newly built Kompleks Tun Sambanthan nearby.

Little India Petty Traders Association president, G Gunasegaran said the eight hawkers who had been operating next to the Sri Kota supermarket for the past 20 years were worried that their business would be affected with the relocation.

"The hawkers are asking why do they need to move, when they have been doing business in the area for a long time," he told reporters after attending a meeting with Lembah Pantai Umno division chief, Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, in Kuala Lumpur today.

Raja Nong Chik, formerly Federal Territories minister, visited the hawkers and traders in Little India to hear their grouses on the matter.

He suggested that they send a memorandum to him, and he would raise the matter with Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and DBKL.

"I have told the traders and hawkers to compile all their issues and send the list to me after Deepavali.

"If their claims are genuine and they are legitimate hawkers and traders, I will bring the matter up with Tengku Adnan," Raja Nong Chik said.

It was reported that a number of traders and hawkers in Little India would be relocated to the newly built Kompleks Tun Sambanthan sometime this month.

The complex was completed two years ago, but the hawkers could not move in because it was not built to specifications and also did not have cooking facilities.

Built with a Moghul architectural design with decorative domes and intricate columns and cornices, it has two basement levels with 170 parking bays.

There are 12 food outlets on the ground floor for indoor and al fresco dining, and another six dining outlets on the first floor with one section allocated for florists.

- Bernama