The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of cheating street vendors in the Capital and looting them of ₹1.31 crore on the pretext of providing licences.
Addressing the media on Sunday, senior AAP leaders said in the 10 years of governance, the BJP had done nothing for the welfare of street vendors.
‘Minted crores’
“The BJP has done nothing to improve the daily lives of street vendors and hawkers. They have not regularised them. Instead, they minted crores in the name of regularisation,” said AAP Delhi convener and national spokesperson Dilip Pandey.
The party added that ₹100 was to be collected from all street vendors in the city as fee for regularisation and licensing. The first notification in this regard was brought out on August 7, 2007, after the BJP came to power in the municipalities. The second one followed three months later on November 1 the same year.
“The interesting bit here, however, is that not all street vendors were charged ₹100. Some were asked to pay ₹500, while a few others were asked for ₹1,000. This was done by touts who enjoy political patronage of the BJP and the Congress,” Mr. Pandey told journalists.
The party also alleged that even the Congress had indulged in dishonest practices to exploit hawkers. The party collected ₹10 each from vendors for regularisation but nothing happened, the AAP claimed.
According to AAP leaders, if voted to power in the upcoming municipal elections on April 23, the party would constitute town vending committees — which street vendors’ associations have been demanding — and regularise vendors as soon as possible. The party also said that an action plan would be formulated for their welfare.
