MCD Municipal health officer NK Yadav denied that a special drive has been launched against food vendors and said unlicensed hawkers are being removed in a routine manner.
An association of street vendors today threatened to stage a protest near the main Commonwealth Games venue here next week against "arbitrary" eviction of hawkers from city markets by the Municiple Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) said the civic body is evicting hawkers, particularly those selling food items from markets before the games.
"Already, vendors have been removed from 17 markets," a member of NASVI said. Its programme coordinator Arbind Singh said the association will stage a protest next week in front of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main Games venue.
"We have called a meeting of office-bearers tomorrow to decide on all aspects of the agitational programme," he said.
The group, which claims to have membership of over three lakh vendors in 20 states of the country, said it had a series of interactions with the MCD since March 2009 on settlement of street vendor issue in Delhi "but to no avail".
NASVI members had staged a protest at the MCD headquarters here on June 1 accusing it of dilly-dallying in formulating and implementing a proper policy for urban street hawkers.
NASVI said rather than making the Games an excuse to "chase away" the vendors, MCD should make them participants in the process to make the sporting event a success.
MCD officials said encroachment removal action will be initiated against anybody who is encroaching on public place and apart from authorised vendors, all roadside sellers will be removed by MCD.
MCD Municipal health officer NK Yadav denied that a special drive has been launched against food vendors and said unlicensed hawkers are being removed in a routine manner.
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