Street vendors flay steep hike in ground rent

Street vendors, accusing Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) of drastically hiking ground rent, picketed deputy commissioner's office, seeking roll back of the hike, on Tuesday.

Street vendors from across the City including vegetable vendors, fruit vendors, flower vendors, push cart vendors, from unorganised sector, alleged that they had been paying Rs 10 to contractors until now as ground rent but civic body has drastically hiked it 10 times and started collecting Rs 100 as ground rent.

Vendors said they were hardly earning, despite vending for entire day. They were struggling to make livelihood with meagre earnings.

Out of the modst earnings, they had to fend for their family, pay house rent, look after education and health of their children while spiraling prices of essential commodities and food grains added to their miseries.

Belagavi City Corporation has hiked the ground rent and collecting Rs 100.

The civic body was only extorting poor vendors with unscientific hike which should immediately rolled back.

Former MLA Abhay Patil who addressed the protesters condemned the exhorbitant hike in ground rent. The vendors earn a paltry amount of Rs 50 to Rs 100 on daily basis which was being snatched away by civic body.

BCC has utterly failed in ensuring better facilities to the vendors who were left to fend for themselves in the absence of availability of better infrastructure. Exploitation of the poor vendor was shameless act which should be immediately rolled back, he said.

The protesters warned they would be forced to intensify their protest if their plea was not heeded and submitted a memorandum to the District Administration in support of their demand.