The Bangalore Development Minister, G.Paremeshwara has ordered the clearance of all street vendors from the footpaths. The order came out on Jan. 8 last year, but in many places, some footpaths can still be found encroached by street vendors and footstalls.
The government has ordered the civic bodies in the city to ensure that the work is being done. But, as the civic body does not have the proper data of the length and width of the footpath, it is being very difficult for them to determine the encroached area.
The government is doing this as their part to make the city look clean and ordered. Bangalore is a tourist destination. Since many people come to visit it from all over the world, the government wants to make it look more beautiful.
The street vendors, on the other hand, have nowhere else to go if the government pushes them from here. They have been doing their job in the footpath for many years and they cannot afford a place in a building for their business.
Suresh, a street vendor, said “The government has not started implementing the drive. Once they start, our livelihoods will be lost. All our families depend on our earnings. Thus if the government shut down our shops where will we go? We are having shops in the footpaths and public places not because we want to, but because we don’t have the money own a big shop. Thus the government should think about us also and revise the policy.”
The problem with street vendors and them using the footpaths and public places to sell goods has been going on for a long time. Though there are a lot of protocols and laws enacted by the government to protect them, none has been implemented so far. They are still suffering without proper laws and policies.
Thus the government should take necessary steps to beautify the city while keeping in mind the livelihood of these people. One such suggestion can be that the government relocate these people to some other place from where they could continue their business and will not be a nuisance to the city.
