More than 500 street vendors gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Tuesday to protest against recent comments made by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. He stated that moving forward, only street vendors identified by a survey would be allowed to sell goods in the city, and even then, they would only be allowed to use push carts.
Despite their efforts, the vendors were unable to meet with Chief Civic Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao, who had promised to speak with them at 3 p.m.
The Karnataka Progressive Street Vendors’ Association, which organized the protest, warned that they would escalate their actions if the Deputy Chief Minister does not take back his statement and if the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) doesn't declare a policy to stop evictions of vendors.
S. Babu, the president of the Association and a street vendor from Vijayanagar market, pointed out that the survey had only counted 27,000 street vendors. In contrast, the government has provided loans to over 70,000 street vendors under a program aimed at supporting their businesses. He argued that this survey purposely excluded many vendors to make the number appear smaller.
Babu expressed concern that the government aims to evict even the vendors who are registered and has suggested that they use electric push carts without occupying any permanent selling spots. He believes this approach violates the rights of street vendors as outlined in the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014.