Identity cards for Bengaluru street vendors: BBMP can do better

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is about to issue 27,655 identity cards to street vendors in Bengaluru to help them get identified as vendors and get the official rights to sell on the streets of the city.

A survey was reportedly conducted in December to identify the street vendors under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods and Regulation of Street Trading) Act, 2014, and the Karnataka Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods, Regulation, and Licensing of Street Trading) Scheme, 2020.

However, the city has lakhs of such vendors, and not all of them have been able to get identity cards in the past. The rules are even more rigid now, with the BBMP officials insisting that the applicants must have ration cards.

The Karnataka Street Vendors Scheme, 2020, requires street vendors to have a Karnataka ration card, voter ID, and Aadhaar card for enumeration and issuance of vending certificates. Critics argue that this requirement is unfair, as it restricts the right to livelihood for those who have been working in the city for years but do not have a Karnataka-issued ration card.

The process also involves a digital survey where vendors must submit various documents, including proof of street vending activities, and undergo verification by town vending committees. The scheme also mandates video documentation of each surveyed vendor. The vending certificate is issued after verification, provided the applicant meets all eligibility criteria, including not having another means of livelihood and not being registered in any other local authority within Karnataka.

Flawed process

“Many of us were able to get ID cards last time with just an Aadhaar card. This time, they want ration cards as well. We have even availed of PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme loans coordinated by the same officials without a ration card. Why are they insisting on ration cards now?” asks S Babu, president of the Karnataka Progressive Street Vendors’ Association.

By 2023, about 1.44 lakh vendors availed of PM-SVANidhi loans from Bengaluru, though the identity cards were issued in the last survey to only 25,000 people. Street vendor unions kept urging for new surveys, but it kept getting postponed.

Rajanna H, State Secretary of Karnataka State Street Vendors’ Association, explains why this happens. “There is no political will. Townvending committees are supposed to monitor and collect the money required for all improvements related to street vendors, form vending zones, and provide infrastructure there. However, town vending committee members themselves are not aware of their power. Workshops have not been conducted to educate us in this regard,” he adds.

Thus, the mandatory Karnataka-issued ration card requirement is a major hurdle for many vendors. The state has not issued new ration cards in the past two or three years. Many vendors, especially migrants, do not have one.

“They have come here for their livelihood. It is unfair not to give identity cards just because they do not have ration cards,” says Babu.

Those who do not have BBMP-issued identity cards cannot vote or participate in the elections of town-vending committees, which are due on April 25. Babu said the identity cards have not yet been issued in BBMP South Zone.

Address a problem

Babu explains more flaws in the process. “When eviction of street vendors holding identity cards happened in Vijayanagar, the cops said the exact place where one has been vending has not been mentioned - there is no address. It became easy for them to shoo us away,” he narrates.

According to court rulings, even if a vendor is sitting under a metro pillar, that metro pillar can be cited to give the vendor’s address.

Babu added that the BBMP published the draft list in English, so most people could not find it or read it, let alone file objections. The draft did not have addresses for the vendors, which would make life difficult for the vendors in case of conflicts with residents and cops.

“Objections needed to be filed, but not every vendor has seen the drafts. The draft is getting finalised now without objections,” he adds.

Eviction, even when they have identity cards, is a common problem for vendors across the city. Church Street, at the heart of the city, had more than 100 street vendors. It was declared a non-vending zone after a residents’ welfare association went to court asking that vendors be removed as they create problems with parking and taking out vehicles.

There was also a scuffle that broke out between street vendors recently over territory when a vendor from another area wanted to camp on Church Street and picked up a fight with the long-time vendors from the area. The police had to intervene and stop it, say sources. Such territorial fights become easier to handle with a fixed address on the identity cards, say street vendors.

Uttam Agharia, a resident of Vijayanagar who was a street vendor on Church Street, has relocated his set-up inside the Mahatma Gandhi Metro Station. So did many other street vendors who were evicted from Church Street.

They say they now pay anywhere between Rs 600 to 1,000 per day to the Bangalore Metro Railway Corporation Limited (BMRCL)—a rental higher than what many other shops pay. The presence of vendors has made the metro station premises lively, but the vendors want to go back to the street.

Agharia explains the ordeal. “About 40 of us have been issued the identity card. We paid no rent to anyone on Church Street as we all had identity cards. Now, we have no livelihood if we get out of this business. The street was good, but relocation has hit our businesses.”

Other street vendors mention instances where hobby chefs parked their cars and sold home-baked cakes and desserts on Church Street, occupying the spaces where street vendors sit.

“When we asked them, they said it was public property and anyone could sell anything. They even asked us to take a break on weekends when they were around. They do not understand this is our livelihood, while it is just a timepass hobby for them,” he said.

Official response

This time, there has been no survey on Church Street. Town vending committee officials were unavailable to comment on the issue.

“We are issuing identity cards as per the existing rules. If someone has no ration card, we cannot issue identity cards to them,” says Vikas Suralkar, Special Commissioner (Welfare), BBMP.

Regarding eviction, Suralkar explains that there are three types of situations based on the footpath width - one, non-vending zone when the footpath is not wide enough to host pedestrians and shops; second, restricted vending zones where certain types of vendors are allowed; and third, proper vending zones.

“When the footpath is not wide enough to host everyone, the preference is given to pedestrians. Vending will not be allowed here,” he says.