'Designate vending space or let us work from public place'

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, December 1

Street vendors today staged a protest outside the Mini-Secretariat in Sector 1 accusing the Municipal Corporation and the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) of “snatching their livelihood” by evicting them from public places during anti-encroachment drives before allocating them sites in dedicated vending zones.

Members of the Footpath Worker Swarojgar Bachao Sangharsh Samiti handed over a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in this connection.

The police had yesterday arrested 12 street vendors for “blocking traffic” while protesting against the MC over seizure of their carts and goods during an anti-encroachment drive in Sector 20.

The union has also sought quashing of the FIR registered against hawkers for protesting against the civic body at the Sector 20 light point.

After picking vendors from the protest site, the police had registered a case against them under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 283 (causing danger, obstruction or, injury in any public way or line of navigation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 20 police station.

After “strict instructions” from Haryana Speaker and local MLA Gian Chand Gupta, the MC and the HSVP have intensified their anti-encroachment drives, attracting sharp reactions from those covered in the vendors’ survey.

“Give us a designated space and licence before removing us from public places as per provisions of the Street Vendors Act,” vendors demanded, alleging that the civic authorities had been acting against the law.