<p>The residents of Kasturinagar in Bengaluru recently took out a protest march to reclaim the footpaths in their area, which have been taken up by hawkers and vendors, leaving little or no space for pedestrians.</p>.<p>Sometime ago, an NGO turned the Mysuru City Corporation premises into a mini-market, complete with pushcarts and tea stalls as a novel way of drawing the attention of the authorities to the illegal encroachment of footpaths. Such protests, which occur regularly in different parts of the country, often result in the civic authorities summarily evicting roadside vendors without as much as serving them a notice.</p>.<p>While footpaths should indeed be left free for use by pedestrians, the elitist bias against the poor making a living by selling their wares on the roadside, while bigger businesses encroach upon footpaths with impunity, is glaring. Neither are there protests against such establishments turning pavements into private parking spaces nor is there any action against them, even as petty roadside vendors face the ire of both the public and the authorities.</p>.<p>In urban centres, the non-existence of walkable pavements, or their encroachment where they exist, force the people to walk on roads, causing accidents. However, summarily evicting vendors is neither the right approach nor a long-term solution.</p>.<p>The law has defined a detailed process to deal with the issue. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, a central legislation, mandates the setting up of a Town Vending Committee by each municipality to identify and designate vending zones for specific use by street vendors, which includes footpath, sidewalk, pavement, embankment, portions of a street or any such place considered suitable for vending activities and providing services to the general public. The committee is also required to conduct a survey of all existing street vendors and issue them a certificate of vending. The committee should ensure that the identified vendors are accommodated in the vending zone, subject to the condition that they do not exceed 2.5 per cent of the population of that particular municipal ward. No hawker can be evicted without the completion of the survey and issuing of vending certificates. The law also prescribes that 40 per cent of the committee itself should comprise street vendors.</p>.<p>The problem is not with roadside hawking per se, but with the failure of municipalities to implement the Vendors Act by identifying both vending and non-vending spaces and issuing certificates to eligible vendors. The solution lies not in knee jerk reaction like removing hawkers from the roads without following the due process of law but in implementing the Act in letter and spirit. The poor, too, have the right to livelihood.</p>
<p>The residents of Kasturinagar in Bengaluru recently took out a protest march to reclaim the footpaths in their area, which have been taken up by hawkers and vendors, leaving little or no space for pedestrians.</p>.<p>Sometime ago, an NGO turned the Mysuru City Corporation premises into a mini-market, complete with pushcarts and tea stalls as a novel way of drawing the attention of the authorities to the illegal encroachment of footpaths. Such protests, which occur regularly in different parts of the country, often result in the civic authorities summarily evicting roadside vendors without as much as serving them a notice.</p>.<p>While footpaths should indeed be left free for use by pedestrians, the elitist bias against the poor making a living by selling their wares on the roadside, while bigger businesses encroach upon footpaths with impunity, is glaring. Neither are there protests against such establishments turning pavements into private parking spaces nor is there any action against them, even as petty roadside vendors face the ire of both the public and the authorities.</p>.<p>In urban centres, the non-existence of walkable pavements, or their encroachment where they exist, force the people to walk on roads, causing accidents. However, summarily evicting vendors is neither the right approach nor a long-term solution.</p>.<p>The law has defined a detailed process to deal with the issue. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, a central legislation, mandates the setting up of a Town Vending Committee by each municipality to identify and designate vending zones for specific use by street vendors, which includes footpath, sidewalk, pavement, embankment, portions of a street or any such place considered suitable for vending activities and providing services to the general public. The committee is also required to conduct a survey of all existing street vendors and issue them a certificate of vending. The committee should ensure that the identified vendors are accommodated in the vending zone, subject to the condition that they do not exceed 2.5 per cent of the population of that particular municipal ward. No hawker can be evicted without the completion of the survey and issuing of vending certificates. The law also prescribes that 40 per cent of the committee itself should comprise street vendors.</p>.<p>The problem is not with roadside hawking per se, but with the failure of municipalities to implement the Vendors Act by identifying both vending and non-vending spaces and issuing certificates to eligible vendors. The solution lies not in knee jerk reaction like removing hawkers from the roads without following the due process of law but in implementing the Act in letter and spirit. The poor, too, have the right to livelihood.</p>
