Development happens at a cost. The restoration work of Bhadra has started, but it has affected the business of several street vendors and taxi drivers. A team from New Delhi conducted a field visit of Bhadra fort area on Monday and heard the grievances of the street vendors.
General secretary of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Khurshid Saiyed wrote about the problem of the Bhadra fort to Cultural, Housing and Poverty Alleviation minister of government of India, Kumari Shailaja. Following this, the nodal officer from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, government of India, Capt Subrata Mukhopadhyay was sent to check the situation of the Bhadra development work and hear the grievances of the vendors.
Mukhopadhyay and his team talked to the street vendors, who were forcibly removed from the place. The Bhadra fort restoration work is being carried out under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) of Central government. According to JNNURM guidelines, urban development should be carried out while ensuring that the urban poor are not affected. "But due to the Bhadra fort restoration, many street vendors have lost their business while taxi drivers are not getting good business," stated Jayantilal Parmar, spokesperson of GPCC present with the team.
GPCC also demanded temporary arrangement for the vendors, as they had been carrying their business for decades at Bhadra area.
"Under JNNURM, temporary arrangement should be made at a place near to their workplace and in a manner that their business is not affected severely. But no such arrangement has been made by the civic body for the hundreds of affected vendors," added Parmar.
Mukhopadhyay, after his field visit, will submit a report to the ministry.
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