Traders, residents unite to oppose designated vending zone in Bengaluru's Gandhi Bazaar

An effort to establish designated street vending areas along Gandhi Bazaar’s main road in Basavanagudi was met with significant opposition, as local traders shut down their businesses protesting the initiative.

Traders fear that permanent structures for street vendors on the footpaths will trigger a steep drop in their business, besides creating traffic congestions and poor visibility for rented stores.

Over 50 traders have offered their support to the protest call given by the Basavanagudi Traders' Association and Heritage Basavanagudi Residents' Welfare Forum. Local residents fiercely oppose the project as they anticipate further commercialisation of the already congested road stretching from Tagore Circle to Ramakrishna Ashram Circle.

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The projects they oppose include the ongoing road white-topping, which they suspect is destroying heritage trees. Banning traffic along Gandhi Bazaar Road, traders feel, will congest smaller roads in the area such as Bugle Rock Road, HV Samaja Road, Govindappa Road, DVG Road, and Puttanna Road.

They also said installing electronic boom barriers and bollards may work well in gated communities, but will not suit this stretch of the road.

Narrowing the carriageway and widening the footpath to install structures for street vendors in the designated zone is something traders deeply oppose.

“Why would a trader run his business in a rented shop when a permanent facility is created on the footpath?," one of the traders asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Department of Urban Land transport (DULT).

The forum urged the BBMP to instead use the money to renovate the poorly maintained market used by flower vendors. They also demanded the authorities allow the BBMP and public vehicles to use Gandhi Bazaar Road, retaining the pavement to 10 feet for pedestrians, designate two-wheeler and car parking areas, and retain the width of the main carriageway.

DULT officials were not available for comment.