MCC to take up eviction drive against street vendors today

Members of Mangaluru City Corporation’s (MCC) Town Vending Committee have decided to launch an eviction drive against street vendors encroaching on footpaths in Mangaluru on March 30.

The drive will be held near Maidan Road, Lady Goschen Hospital, Service Bus Stand and the State Bank area, following complaints from pedestrians that the encroachment of footpath by street vendors was causing inconveniences, the members in the meeting declared.

Mayor Premananda Shetty, presiding over the meeting, said the cooking gas used by food vendors poses a threat to the lives of the public walking on the footpath.

Such cylinders will be seized. The area for street vending that has been identified under the survey will be declared for use keeping the interests of poor vendors in mind, he said.

Under the Karnataka Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Rules, 2014, encroachers will be evicted during the drive by the officials, he added.

The team removing encroachments will include officials from the MCC and police, said Premananda Shetty.

“The elected members of the Street Vendors Committee must cooperate completely during the clearance drive,” appealed the mayor.

Under the Central government’s PM SVANidhi scheme, if street vendors had not received a loan from a particular bank, they can approach a different bank seeking a loan, said MCC Commissioner Akshy Sridhar.

The details of pending loans in the CIBIL score need not be taken into consideration for any of these government-sponsored schemes. All applications under the PM SVANidhi scheme should be considered, he said.

Members also decided to direct the Lead Bank manager on banks giving approval to all applications submitted under the SVANidhi scheme, Akshy Sridhar added.

The meeting was attended by MCC Deputy Mayor Sumangala Rao, officials, among others.