Eight street vendors were injured when police resorted to caning to disperse over 200 protesters who were staging a demonstration in front of the Mysuru City Corporation here on Wednesday. The injured were shifted to different hospitals. As many as 44 persons were detained and later released in the evening.
Street vendors, led by the former Minister S.A. Ramdas, gathered at the corporation office on Wednesday morning and questioned Mayor R. Lingappa and Commissioner C.G. Betsurmath for evicting street vendors without giving them any notice. They displayed a copy of the order that the Directorate of Municipal Administration had issued to all the corporations and other civic bodies not to disturb street food vendors and help them by providing basic facilities. Mr. Ramdas argued that the government has to issue a gazette notification on hawkers’ zone, and till all those formalities are completed the street vendors should be allowed to transact business in their usual places. To this the Mayor said that he was aware of the procedure and that he need not learn anything from Mr. Ramdas. He added that the MCC would give licences to street vendors from June 3 and allow them to carry on with their businesses. Mr. Ramdas asked the Mayor to give it in writing but the latter refused to do so. Mr. Ramdas insisted that the Mayor should hold the Town Vending Committee immediately and pass a resolution that licences would be issued to street vendors. However, the Mayor said he could not act as per Mr. Ramdas’s directions. This verbal duel provoked the protestors to raise slogans against the Mayor and the Commissioner for taking arbitrary decisions against street vendors. Sensing that the situation might go out of hand, police resorted to mild caning to disperse the mob, and in the melee eight persons were injured.
