Feeling out of place in new home

On a cloudy Friday afternoon, Rani (name changed) sits crouching next to her footwear stall at the new vending zone in Sector 15, wondering if she will be able to make enough money to pay for her children’s school fee.

“I haven’t had a single customer in the past two days and I am beginning to lose hope. If things continue in the same manner, I’ll have to pull my children out of private schools,” says Rani, as she tries to hide a patch of torn clothing covering the shaky table that doubles as her stall. And similar thoughts weigh on the minds of Rani’s several fellow street vendors.

It has been over two months since Rani and other 7,200-plus street vendors in the city were relocated to new vending zones in accordance with the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. If traders and public are to be believed, the project has yielded mixed results.

Vendors from locations such as Sectors 17, 19, and 22 were moved to far-off places like the newly minted vending zones in Sector 7, 15, and 53. While the Administration’s stance was that they chose locations diligently, taking into consideration “footfall, nature of road, width, vehicular and pedestrian traffic’’, vendors rue lack of initiative in involving them in the discussions before taking the decision.

Vinay Kumar, a vendor who was shifted from Sector 22 to Sector 15, says: “Nobody even thought of talking to us and understanding our perspective before choosing the new venues. It has always been like this, despite being the party in question, we are the last ones to be involved in discussions about our future.”

“The place is overcrowded with vendors and most of us are struggling for survival. Sales have gone down steeply. We stand here all day and in the end, barely make enough to pay the fee to the authorities,” he continues, while simultaneously trying to attract customers from a scanty-looking gathering.

And then, there are the ones who are worse off. Sitting next to Kumar is Mahinder Ram, who was shifted to the vending zone in Sector 53. He prefers not to open his stall at all because with next to zero business, he cannot afford to pay for autorickshaws to cart his stock to the venue.

“My brother has returned to the village because we have run out of business completely. Every night I have to carry everything back home and it costs about Rs 300- Rs 400 (and the same to bring it back the next day). What’s the point of showing up when on most days, I do not even reach a breakeven point,” he asks.

Adding insult to injury, vendors further allege that “perks” that made their way to the Administration’s detailed plan have failed to become a ground reality. Notably, the vendors were assured that the authorities will provide them with storage facilities, solar lights and electricity, public conveniences, drinking water and waste-collection services, but two months on, most of the promises remain a distant dream.

The Sector 15 zone, which is a site for 936 vendors, has only one public toilet. Vendors also lament lack of a roof or storage area to safeguard goods overnight or during rain and the absence of waste-collection services.

Dilshad Ali, who moved his ‘biryani’ stall from Sector 15 marketplace to the vending zone, says, albeit with a sense of dejection in his voice: “We were promised a shelter and storage space to prevent losses when it rained. But in the past week, I have had to take my entire produce to the PGI to give away in ‘langar’ because there is just no way to protect it from the rain.”

“We had invested years in creating a loyal customer base, a close-knit community within ourselves and local shopkeepers. The Administration ignored all that completely. They uprooted us and while many facilities were promised, the results have been very disappointing,” continues Rani, who had been setting up her stall in Sector 22 for seven years prior to the move.

Problems pile up with lack of drinking water at vending zones and overcrowded and unhygienic condition of the toilets. Vendors allege that mobile toilets and water tanks have been nothing more than photo ops.

The relocation drive, once touted as a model plan to relocate street vendors, has failed to live up to much of the hype and has fared poorly with the public as well. Sector 15 residents, for instance, have complained of traffic congestion around the junction, mismanaged parking space around the zone and poor hygiene in and around the ground earmarked for vendors.

“Because of the farmers’ market, we were facing the issue of traffic chaos and several cars being parked on roads once a week, but it has become an every day thing now. This is not cutting a pretty picture of the sector,” says Kartar Singh, a resident.

A group of students from Panjab University also expressed their displeasure over the shifting of the vendors from market to the new venue. Varsha Sharma, a frequent visitor to Dilshad Ali’s Khan ‘biryani’ stall, says: “I live in Sector 15-C and the food was easily accessible to us earlier. We used to have lunch [at Khan’s Biryani] almost every day, but now, we come here only once or twice a week. It is far from where we live and the area barely has space to accommodate visitors.”

“While I understand that the move might help with management, I almost feel bad for the vendors as, apparently, there are more stalls than customers here. I try to buy the products whenever I can, but even I only visit once in two weeks,” continues Deepika Sharma, a PhD student from Panjab University.

The plan to relocate all street vendors from the no-vending zones was initiated following the passage of Street Vendors Act, 2014, in Parliament, but push came to shove when the Town Vending Committee for Chandigarh identified parts of the city that could be converted to vending zones.

With no immediate respite in sight, the vendors are beginning to lose hope. “The law was passed to protect our rights, but that seems to be least of the authorities’ concern now. I don’t know how long we can go on like this and maybe, I’ll take a week off. That way, I’ll at least save the money that I spend on autorickshaws and tea that keeps me warm on chilly evenings here,” says Rani as she looks for money in her purse, while loading her belongings to an autorickshaw. She decided to head home early on what was supposed to be a peak day for business.

Additional Commissioner Anil Kumar Garg said: “The MC has floated tenders for various works, including lighting, drinking water, public toilets and others. Soon, the work is going to start.”

As far as sites are concerned, a team comprising MC’s Chief Engineer, Chief Architect and others has been formed. “They are looking for new sites in places such as Ram Darbar and Mauli Jagran. Those, who are sitting at places (like IT Park) far off from their houses will be adjusted here. Also, where there is some site issue, will also be worked upon in accordance with soon to be identified sites,” he said.