A quick vegetable and fruit shopping spree would mean heading straight to a pushcart on the way. But for many vegetable, fruit and flower vendors in the city, a major challenge has been to make their wares visible during twilight due to insufficient lighting.
Many a time, they are forced to rely on streetlights, kerosene lanterns or battery-operated lamps which only provide ambient lighting.
Aakarsh Shamanur, a city-based architect and urban management professional, is stepping in to help improve their trade; he has started a campaign to give away 200 solar lights to women vendors.
“Good lighting is very crucial for pushcart vendors. The project was started couple of months ago with survey of the street vendors. I found that it was women who mostly did the trading, while the men took care of the logistics. Most buying happened in the evening. Those vendors who were selling under a street light saw good business as opposed to those selling from dark spots on a road,” said Mr. Shamanur, who went on to design a solar lamp to suit the requirements of the vendors.
He pilot tested the solar lamps, which has a 3 watt LED mini tubelight, 5 watt solar panel and a battery, by fixing them at a few roadside eateries in the city.
The panel needs to be kept in sunlight for six to eight hours and can be used up to four hours at night. There is also an option to charge mobile phones.
“The pilot started in August and I got good feedback from the sellers who said that where earlier only men were approaching the eateries, the presence of light brought in families who felt comfortable to stand and eat there,” said Mr. Shamanur, adding that the presence of light can also help address safety concerns on the roads.
In September, he launched a campaign on milaap.org to crowdfund 200 solar lamps to be given away to vendors in the city. While he has already given away 10 such kits to vendors in Malleswaram, Seshadripuram and Jayanagar 9th Block, he is working to create a list of 100 women vendors in the city.
“I want to crowdsource the other 100 locations from the public. People can send the location of a street vendors they know who needs light for their pushcart,” he said.
Jayamala from Kumara Park, Manjula Devi from Jayanagar 9th Block and Nagarathnamma from Malleswaram are the first beneficiaries of the campaign.
“My customers are really happy that they can see the vegetables they are buying. The light certainly has a positive impact on my trade. A lot more people have started to come and buy from me,” said Manjula Devi, who uses the solar light from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Calling the initiative a good one, Vinay Srinivas of Bengaluru Jilla Beedhi Vyapaari Sanghatengala Okkuta (Federation of Street Vendors' Unions) said, “Absence of light does reduce opportunity of vending. We have been asking the civic body to explore solar lighting for vegetable markets.”
