With street vendors returning to their places after being evicted, was the drive futile?

The footpath encroachment clearance drive evicted street vendors from their spots all over the city over the last few weeks. Arterial and sub arterial roads were covered as well as certain markets. However in places like HSR Layout, Malleshwaram and KR Market Road, street vendors returned after the drive was carried out four or five days earlier. This brings up the question of just how effective the drive was and whether it’s the method by which the corfunctional, which is again an illegal act,” she said.

Corporations can provide the city with safe footpaths. Kathyani Chamaraj, a civic activist said that the entire operation was un lawful and made the vendors a scalegoat for systemic and infrastructural flaws. “This is illegal and illogical, what they’ve done. So, there's no point blaming the vendors for it. And why have you never imple mented all these rules all these years?” she asked. She also went into the detail on the laws on street vending , recounting that there are prescribed lengths of roads and foot paths which street vendors can occupy.

However, the GBA has not done the measuring of the roads where the vendors are al lowed to be and not, and instead have gone ignored the law and removed ev erything deemed as an encroachment. She explained that cur rently, the street vendors and activists are asking for remedies and a lawful process. “So, if they are coming back, they have every right to come back. Because, first of all, you did not give them a notice also before sending them out. And you have sent them out without the consent of the town vending committee.

There are hardly any town vending committees which are “Now our demand is, you please relo cate them from where you evicted them illegally. And give them compensation for having deprived them of their pushcart, their temporary shacks. Exist ing infrastructure is there on the arterial road. You allow them to come back and set up their pushcart there,” she said. While the drive may have been illegal, experts said that it was also bad policy. Former City Cor poration official Azeezulla Baig said, “Best thing would have been for the govern ment to first to follow the law, marked the zones and there should have been a smooth makeover from the footpaths which they want to clear to the places where they should be allowed to carry on with their business.

Perhaps this was not done. It was not well planned.” With the status of the street vendors in limbo, Vivek Pai, an urban mobility expert, supported the clearance of encroachments but said that there are bigger interventions that need to be made rather than going after street vendors. “The major issue with pe destrians has always been changing levels and facing oncoming traffic. Generally, what has been happening is that a lot of places pedestrians are forced to walk up down staircases, ramps and cross heavy traffic areas without adequate protection, which breaks their journeys. Encroachment, clearance does help. However, what we need is seamless in tegration of footpaths,” he said.