Street vendors return to places from where they were evicted
Bhubaneswar: Many of the street vendors, who were removed by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) during a month-long eviction drive ahead of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD), have returned to those spaces.
BMC launched the drive in Dec last year by identifying 55 major arteries where there was encroachment by street vendors. The drive turned several parts of the city, including Vani Vihar Square, encroachment-free.
BMC also earmarked the areas as ‘no-vending zones’ and put up signboards to ensure the street vendors don’t return to those places. However, soon after the conclusion of the PBD convention, street vendors have started occupying the places again.
“This is lack of monitoring by the civic body. They managed to free up important areas from encroachment, but the situation is back to square one. The vendors need to be relocated to proper places,” social worker Alok Kar said.
Street vendors said the civic body has not provided them proper rehabilitation, forcing them to reoccupy the places where they have been doing business for years.
“We don’t want to encroach upon public places, but we have no choice. We have been demanding rehabilitation at the same place from where they evicted us, but BMC is not fulfilling our legitimate demands,” Bikash Champati, a tea seller near Infocity, said.
City mayor Sulochana Das said new vending zones are being created in the city. “We have recently formed special squads to ensure that the vendors don’t encroach on public places,” she said.
Das said that they have been registering the street vendors and rehabilitating them in a proper way. “We request the street vendors to maintain patience. We are not depriving them of their livelihood,” she said.
Pratap Sahu, president of All Odisha Street Vendors’ Association, said that the relocation plan of the BMC is not suitable. “They are evicting vendors from Vani Vihar and relocating them to VSS Nagar. They have to rehabilitate us at the same place,” he said.
BMC launched the drive in Dec last year by identifying 55 major arteries where there was encroachment by street vendors. The drive turned several parts of the city, including Vani Vihar Square, encroachment-free.
BMC also earmarked the areas as ‘no-vending zones’ and put up signboards to ensure the street vendors don’t return to those places. However, soon after the conclusion of the PBD convention, street vendors have started occupying the places again.
“This is lack of monitoring by the civic body. They managed to free up important areas from encroachment, but the situation is back to square one. The vendors need to be relocated to proper places,” social worker Alok Kar said.
Street vendors said the civic body has not provided them proper rehabilitation, forcing them to reoccupy the places where they have been doing business for years.
“We don’t want to encroach upon public places, but we have no choice. We have been demanding rehabilitation at the same place from where they evicted us, but BMC is not fulfilling our legitimate demands,” Bikash Champati, a tea seller near Infocity, said.
City mayor Sulochana Das said new vending zones are being created in the city. “We have recently formed special squads to ensure that the vendors don’t encroach on public places,” she said.
Das said that they have been registering the street vendors and rehabilitating them in a proper way. “We request the street vendors to maintain patience. We are not depriving them of their livelihood,” she said.
Pratap Sahu, president of All Odisha Street Vendors’ Association, said that the relocation plan of the BMC is not suitable. “They are evicting vendors from Vani Vihar and relocating them to VSS Nagar. They have to rehabilitate us at the same place,” he said.
