CITU protests vendors’ eviction from Himachal Pradesh University

The Street Vendors Union affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) today staged a protest at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here against its recent eviction drive against unauthorised eateries and vendors and demanded resettlement of the displaced vendors.

The protesters gathered outside the office of Vice-Chancellor Mahavir Singh and raised slogans against him over the action against the vendors. On Saturday, the university authorities, along with the police and the district administration, evicted unauthorised vendors from the university campus. The Students Federation of India (SFI) and CITU had opposed the eviction drive.

Vijender Mehra, state president of CITU, said that the vendors were illegally being evicted from the university in violation of the Street Vendors Act, 2014, as well as the Street Vendors Policy. He added that the belongings and goods of street vendors were also being confiscated and they were also being fined everyday, which was clear harassment of the vendors.

“Also, demanding numerous documents and affidavits from street vendors under the guise of a Cabinet subcommittee is nothing more than harassment. This is gross violation of the Street Vendors Act and the Supreme Court’s directives. When everything in the country has been linked to the Aadhaar card, demanding documents other than the Universal Aadhaar Card is completely baseless,” he said.

After the protest, a delegation of CITU met Mahavir Singh in his office and raised various issues of the vendors. The Vice-Chancellor assured them that the vendors would be resettled and prefabricated shops would soon be constructed and allocated to the displaced vendors on a priority basis. CITU threatened to intensify its agitation if the eviction drive was not stopped.