Over 600 hawkers were evicted from their locations in July 2010 leaving them in lurch. They complained that a meeting scheduled with the BBMP commissioner had not materialised yet.
“The Mayor promised us a meeting with the commissioner by October 28 last year. But there has been no development till this date,” said Vinay Sreenivas of Beedi Vyaaparigala Hakkottaya Andolana.
The evicted hawkers had staged a dharna in front of the Palike office on Oct 21.
The Commercial Street police took over 100 protesters into custody and released them later.
Commissioner Siddaiah said that footpaths were meant for pedestrians and not for hawkers.
“We need to arrive at an amicable solution,” he added. Meanwhile, the Beedi Vyaparigala Hakkottaya Andolana has urged the Palike to follow legal process before evicting
vendors from their areas of operation.
The Association, in a press release has said that an area of 1 m x 1 m should be allotted to each pavement vendor by ensuring adequate space for pedestrians also.
It also wants the Palike to reframe its rehabilitation scheme in accordance with the Constitution of India, Supreme Court judgments, the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors 2009 and the Model Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2009.