The roadside small time traders and vendors here on April 30 staged a demonstration under the banner of Nikhila Odisha Small Traders and Vendors’ Union, affiliated to the National Hawkers Federation and the AITUC, against the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The agitators alleged that under the guidance of the bank, the Central Government was taking all anti-people measures in the name of development. Be it peasants, workers, small time vendors, hawkers, construction workers or the people in the unorganised sector, everyone was suffering owing to the draconian policy of the bank, they said.
“The bank’s annual conference in Greater Noida has started from May 2, which will continue till May 5. Owing to the anti- people measures of the bank, we are holding the protest rally today so that it will have an impact on the Government and the bank,” informed association president Jayanta Das, stating that the association strictly opposes eviction of street vendors without rehabilitation.
He informed that the Central Government made a national policy for street vendors’ livelihood and social security in 2009. In the same year, the Government made a national model act to protect the interest of the street vendors and hawkers. In October, 2010, Supreme Court bench comprising Justice AK Ganguli and Justice GS Sangvi, observing street vending a fundamental right under Article 19(1) (g), had laid stress on the rehabilitation of the vendors when the question of their eviction arises, said Das.
However, Das rued that while the State has done little to protect the interest of the vendors and hawkers, on the other hand, the district administration was taking tough measures for eviction without even forming a town vending committee. Das warned that the association would fight tooth and nail against the administration’s move.
MM Parida, Pradyumna Mohanty, Jaayant Mohanty, Sahadev Mohanty, Sarveswar Mishra and Ajay Padhiary among others led the protest rally.