Karnataka - Bangalore   

‘Give market space to informal trade’

BANGALORE: When cities grow, the number of poor people also swells. The resultant factor is the growth in the number of street vendors which is the only way for an honourable livelihood for the poor.

Last week when “Maya Bazaar,” a small community of street vendors on the crossroads of Infantry Road in Bangalore was evicted, about 100 street vendors had to go without their daily earnings. This is happening in all cities around the country and more pronouncedly in Karnataka.

Rita Noronha of the National Association of Street vendors India said: “Street vendors are self-employed. Their work is filled with insecurity and uncertainty. Even if some street vendors do very well in their trade, a single raid from the municipality or the police can render them insolvent.

Speaking to The Hindu Prof. Noronha said society cannot wish them away. They are citizens as everyone else and are entitled for their share of livelihood. The civilised society cannot keep them “illegal” forever and they should be given their legal status as “informal sector traders” she argues.

According to sources in the Urban Development Department, hawking zones have been earmarked in a few places in Mysore and Tumkur but the small vendors have stayed clear of them. Officials in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike point out that the hawking zone in Vijayanagar in Bangalore city was successful.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) State leader G.N. Nagaraj says that in the guise of beautification of the city and widening of the roads, the authorities have been evicting street vendors systematically without making alternative arrangements. By doing so, they are depriving people of lower income groups from their sources of “affordable goods.”

Santhosh Vaz, convenor of Janodaya, an NGO working for the welfare of the street vendors, says street vending is also a type of business and economic activity. It is recognised all over the world. “The Street net International headquartered in Durban South Africa has appealed to world governments to recognise the rights of the street vendors and that of the people who patronise them.” Ms. Santhosh said the Janodaya has appealed to the government to direct urban local bodies to earmark places for accommodating street vendors.

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