Driven away, these Bangalore hawkers want their pavements back

About 200 street hawkers, who were evicted from the pavements of Meenakshi Koil Street six months ago, returned to occupy the space as a mark of protest, on Monday. They were taken into custody by the Commercial Street police and later released.

“Earlier last week, the mayor had told us that he had no problem with hawkers occupying that space. Today, the police too said they had no objection, but wanted BBMP to give a written permission for vending. However, the palike has certain reservations,” said Vinay Srinivasa, a member of the Beedi Vyaparigala Hakkottaya Andolana.

Syed Zameer, who has been selling plasticware for 15 years in Shivajinagar, said, “Inspector S Badrinath of Commercial Street police station had told us that the police wanted the BBMP to give a written permission. So, we went to the mayor to request for the same. He did not oblige. We requested him to at least give oral instructions to the inspector. He declined that too.” 

The police, however, did not have any written instructions for the eviction from the BBMP and were acting based on oral directions from the palike, members of the Andolana said.

“The mayor said he would schedule a meeting for February 8. But that would be too late. We are starving. Moreover, he would not commit in writing. We have been knocking at the doors of the police and BBMP, in vain,” the vendors complained.

Ever since they were evicted, the vendors have been deprived of their only source of income. “We are desperate to start earning again. Our families are suffering,” they said.

The Protest
The vendors of Meenakshi Koil Street, Central Street and Ulsoor plan to stage a protest near Someshwara Temple, Ulsoor on Tuesday.

On November 22, Beedi Vyaparigala Hakkottaya Andolana, who describe themselves as ‘a city-level campaign of street hawkers, dalits, human rights activists, social and progressive organisations’, had staged a protest at the BBMP office demanding that the hawkers should be allowed to return immediately.

However, they were forced to leave after a promise of an appointment with the mayor on December 15. The mayor called off the meeting at the last minute and rescheduled it for January 20. This time also, the meeting did not happen. 

Meenakshi Koil Street is an authorised hawking zone, as declared by the civic authority in 1999. About 55 roads had been listed in a notification published by the palike then, vendors said. After that most of them obtained licences and paid rent for occupying the pavement.

“We are registered hawkers and have been paying Rs1,800 every year, for the last 10 years, for the space we use. We have receipts to prove the same,” said Jameel Ahmed who has been selling footwear there for 35 years.