Bengaluru: “If street vending is not illegal in India, then why are we being cleared out from Bengaluru footpaths?”This was the simple and direct question posed by hundreds of street vendors gathered at Freedom Park here on Wednesday to protest the ongoing footpath encroachment clearance drive by Greater Bengaluru Authority.The campaign, launched on July 1, is expected to continue till July 10. The drive came as a bolt from the blue for thousands of vendors who were asked to vacate without notice. Left with no alternative, they were struggling to gather their ware and what remained of their shops, looking at a bleak future.While Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byre Gowda has maintained the drive is aimed at reclaiming footpaths for pedestrians and ensuring safe movement, vendors argue that the exercise is threatening their livelihoods without offering viable alternatives.The minister had, however, said street vendors could set up shops in the interior roads of a locality and not on arterial roads.According to a press release issued by street vendors’ unions, representatives of the protesters met GBA chief commissioner Maheshwar Rao, who assured them that a meeting with minister Krishna Byre Gowda and vendor representatives would be convened soon to discuss their concerns. The vendors, however, warned that they would continue their agitation if the eviction drive proceeded without rehabilitation and allocation of vending spaces.For perspective, Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, mandates that no street vendor should be evicted until designated space is identified and allotted. They accused the civic authorities of carrying out the drive without following the due process and without consulting town vending committees.Civic authorities contended it was not an ‘eviction’ drive, but only ‘relocation’ of shops from footpaths of major roads to interior ones.Not convinced by GBA’s explanation of taking cover under the niceties of language in the absence of clear ground-level action, vendors, holding placards and raising slogans, sought “dignified vending” and protection from arbitrary evictions.Several vendors said that street vending was their primary source of income for generations. Sindhu J, a vendor from Kalasipalya, said, “This has been our only source of income for many years. What do we do now?” Vanaja, another vendor at the protest, said authorities should provide designated vending zones before taking up a clearance drive. “Our main concern is simple: Give us a space to vend. If we violate rules even after that, then take action or evict us,” she said.Vending in core residential areas is a suggestion fraught with its own challenges: Footpaths not wide enough, strips of footpaths between gates of two houses hardly enough to set up shops, and vehicles devour what’s gloriously called footpaths.Vending zones must* Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, meant to balance pedestrian rights and livelihoods of vendors, not implemented in Bengaluru* It mandates surveys of street vendors, formation of Town Vending Committees, issuance of vending certificates and scientific identification of vending zones* Objective is to regulate — not eliminate — street vending30,000 vendors, no ID card yet* BBMP survey and identified 30,000 vendors; officials identified 230 vending zones with 7,000 vending spots* Not a single vending zone officially notified; not a single vendor has received a vending identity card or no Town Vending Committees constitutedCM mulls mobile vendingCM DK Shivakumar had spoken of providing vehicles to vendors so they could trade without permanently occupying footpaths. Rs 42 crore was allocated in budget. But no action on ground
