Campaign against harassment of street vendors

Street vendors plan to send their grievances to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of a nationwide campaign against their eviction. | Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram

Street vendors of Mysuru will be sending their grievances to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of a nationwide campaign launched by National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI).

NASVI, which has been receiving SOS calls from vendors across the country against the blatant disregard by municipal bodies and police authorities, has started a fortnight-long campaign from May 1 to safeguard the livelihood of street vendors in the country.

As part of the campaign, the vendors will send their collective grievances to the Prime Minister through e-mail, postcards and Twitter. “We will send the grievances of street vendors of Mysuru, who are being evicted and slapped with penalties, to the Prime Minister,” said Mysuru Street Vendors’ Association leader Bhaskar Srinivas Raje Urs.

Eviction of street vendors is rampant across the country. “The vendors are being evicted despite having Certificates of Vending. NASVI has been trying to establish dialogue with the local bodies and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs by intimating them about the plight of the vendors via Twitter and written letters, but to no avail,” a statement by NASVI said before adding that it has now planned a 15-day-long campaign to seek the PM’s urgent intervention.

“Our street vendors are still reeling under the brutal consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unfair treatment meted out by the authorities and the indifference by the State further pushes them into uncertain working conditions,” NASVI said.

In Mysuru, Mr. Urs complained that police authorities were booking cases against street vendors while evicting them. Though they claim that they had conducted a survey and identified more than 2,700 street vendors, no identity cards or certificates of vending has been issued to them, he lamented.

Meanwhile, in February this year, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issued an advisory to all the States based on the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on implementation of provisions of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

The action points suggested in the advisory ask the authorities to carry out relocations and eviction of street vendors strictly as per the provisions of the Street Vendors Act, 2014. “No street vendor should be evicted till the survey in the city has been completed and certificate of vending issued to identified street vendors. The plan may be developed in such a manner that no relocation or eviction of street vendors takes place. Relocation of street vendors, if required, must be done in consultation with the affected vendors. Eviction can be done only after development of vending zones and in consultation with Town Vending Committee (TVC) where permanent TVCs have been formed,” the advisory said.