Street vendors knock on GHMC's door against harassment
Street vendors from across the city arrived at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's grievance redressal platform 'Prajavani' on Monday, with complaints against removal of pushcarts by the police, and non-implementation of the The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
The 30 to 40 street vendors who arrived at the GHMC headquarters were representing hawkers from several areas, including Ameerpet, Dilsukhnagar, Kothapet, Saroornagar, Dilsukhnagar, Dammaiguda, Secunderabad and several others. They complained about Operation ROPE (Removal of Obstructive Parking & Encroachments) by the Traffic Police, which has majorly impacted the livelihood of the pushcart vendors.
In the name of the operation, the police were removing and destroying the pushcarts, they said. Despite shifting to the lanes and bylanes, the vendors got no respite, and the police continued to impose fines and take away the weights, balances, and commodities as a threat, they said.
'Very recently, they deployed earthmovers to destroy the pushcarts near Saroornagar Rythu Bazar. The action was taken without any notice, and about 80 vendors were affected by it. They have had no work for the past few days. How will they live?' questioned Shree, Director of the Informal Labourers and Workers Federation, who led the delegation along with the National Hawkers Federation.
The Street Vendors Act, 2014 exists only on paper, with a large number of vendors having the cards issued by GHMC, but not allotted any vending space, she complained.
Two vendors each were selected from various locations of the city, to represent the issue, Ms.Shree said. About four to five vendors were allowed inside the Prajavani programme to air their grievance, while all others were made to stay outside.
Meanwhile, two children from Moosapet were brought to the Prajavani programme with a request for development of a colony park. Space allocated for park in Anjaneyanagar colony was encroached, and was cleared by the authorities, but ₹50 lakh sanctioned earlier for development of the park has not been released, they said.
A total 62 complaints were received at the GHMC headquarters, while 104 complaints came through the programme conducted at the six zonal headquarters, a statement from GHMC informed. Majority were complaints pertaining to the Town Planning department.
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