With the general elections just round the corner, the street vendors have asserted that they would support those who work for their betterment and hoped that the political parties would not ignore the rights issues of street vendors and integrate the issues of livelihood and social security in their election manifestos.
Upbeat with the enactment of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, national coordinator National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), Arbind Singh said: “We would look forward to those candidates who have shown courage and commitment to campaign for our rights, particularly the campaign to get street vendors’ livelihood protection Act implemented. We are looking towards political forces who would be supporting us in our struggle for proper implementation of the law.”
Counting the issues of importance for the street vendors, Mr. Singh said, include poor municipal and police governance; harassment, eviction and extortion of money by cops and the municipal authorities.
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“We are calling upon the political parties and their candidates to make their statement of commitments on how they would work for municipal and police reforms,” he said.
The union leader said in order to highlight the street vendors’ rights agenda in the 2014 parliamentary elections, NASVI would organize a two-day National Conference of Street Vendors in Delhi from 29 March.