Street vendors protest eviction drive

Protesting against their recent eviction during the encroachment drive carried out by the civic body, a group of street vendors gathered outside the Tiruchi Corporation office demanding an end to what they termed as the officials bias towards large businesses.

Vendors affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Tamilaga Makkal Jananayaka Katchi, and two other vendors associations staged a demonstration here on Thursday accusing the authorities of trying to destroy the livelihood of street vendors by evicting them in the name of Smart City project.

Speaking to

The Hindu , Ansaruddin, district secretary, Platform Vendors Association, AITUC said: “We want to be a part of the Smart City plan. We have sent several pleas but no one has paid heed to even one. Big businesses use the street as parking area where four-wheelers take up at least five to six feet of road space. Those are real encroachments but nobody asks them anything because they are big business establishments.”

Responding to the protests, N. Ravichandran, City Corporation Commissioner, said that the civic body was working on implementing the national street vendor policy.