JOIN USCops shoo away hawkers,buskers from Church St
Police have barred street vendors from Church Street. They aren’t allowing buskers to perform there either.
Many vendors told Metrolife that the police had asked them to leave on December 16, citing preparations for new year’s celebrations.
“No one told us we had to permanently wind up our businesses. When we returned in January, the policemen started chasing us away,” says Ramachandra. He reckons he has been doing business on Church Street for at least 35 years.
For two weeks, the 53-year-old has been selling socks out of his backpack.
About 15 hawkers have been coming to Church Street every day at 11 am, in the hope of setting up their stalls.
Hawkers are active on Brigade Road and M G Road and only the ones on Church Street are being driven away, says Naveen S, who used to sell clothes.
Some hawkers blamed hobbyists who bring their wares to Church Street. On weekends, college students would set up temporary stalls and sell paintings, crochet work, candles and postcards.
“They would occupy huge areas of the footpath and hang their items on the building walls, despite being asked not to. A few people like this have ruined the reputation of street vendors,” says Syed Aleem, another hawker.
Association stand
According to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014, the authorities can’t unnecessarily evict or relocate street vendors with BBMP certification, says S Babu, president of Bengaluru District Street Vendors Association.
“They need to be given prior notice and it is also the duty of the BBMP to set up designated areas for street vendors. Police can’t ask them to vacate at will,” he says.
Babu and Mumtaz, a couple selling jewellery and antique items, continue to run their business in a corner.
“The police told us we shouldn’t obstruct the footpath. So, with the permission of building owners, we set up shop in a small corner, away from the footpath,” says Babu. He says they have been carrying out business here for 40 years.
Pedestrian woes
Complaints about overcrowding of Church Street led to the removal of vendors, a constable said.
Feted as a ‘model street’, Church Street was looking chaotic ‘like Majestic’ with hawkers selling their wares on pushcarts, on their shoulders, and on makeshift platforms, he says.
Street vending is illegal if it isn’t carried out in the space allotted by the BBMP, says M A Saleem, special commissioner (traffic). “The hawkers had left no space for pedestrians on Church Street. This in turn was disrupting traffic. Hawkers anywhere in Bengaluru need to set up stalls only in locations allocated to them by the BBMP,” he says.
If the vendors are to be brought back to Church Street, a separate area needs to alloted for them, he says.
The hawkers had almost doubled in number in the past few weeks, and beggars were adding to the chaos, says Deepak Batavia, president of Church Street Occupants Association.
Music falls silent
Musicians who used to play on Church Street are also impacted by the turn of events. Alan Rego, 58, started busking on the Street last year but hasn’t returned with his guitar and footstool this month.
A sub-inspector told him he couldn’t perform any longer as the police were getting complaints of pavements being blocked.
The sub-inspected asked Rego to get a licence to perform on Church Street. “When I asked him which department I could approach, he got irritated,” he says.
Despite the uncertainty, Moyeen V N, 25, went back on a Sunday to sell a self-published book. “The store owners have complained against the street vendors,” he says.
Rahman Khan, 27, is waiting for the dust to settle. He moved from Chennai to Bengaluru to further a career in content creation and Church Street has been his go-to place since. “It is the place to record funny videos,” he explains. Lately, the police have been stopping his shoots, telling him to get permission.
A portrait artist, Sebin has hopped to Goa and Mumbai since the cops started clearing Church Street. “I want to come back,” says the youngster from Kannur, Kerala.