On orders from Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi traffic police will begin to clear street-side vendors along the stretch of MG Marg (Main Road) from Monday morning. Coincidently, around the same time, hearing on the Special leave Petition (SlP) filed with Supreme Court of India to stay the eviction will be in progress.
“We will begin around 9:00 am. The anti-encroachment squad of Ranchi Municipal Corporation will accompany us to transport seized merchandise from vendors who have not vacated the place. A force of 50 policemen will carry out the removal. A magistrate will also be present in case of any law and order situation,” informed Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Manoj Ratan Chothe.
During the hearing of a Public Interest litigation (PIl) on April 9 in Jharkhand High Court, the bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice S Chandrashekhar ordered Ranchi police to move vendors along Main Road to ensure smooth flow of traffic.
In light of this directive, a notice was issued by the office of Senior Superintendent of Police, Ranchi, asking street vendors to either vacate MG Marg by April 15 or be prepared to be removed forcefully from next day onwards and have their goods seized. Although the eviction notice is iron-clad, no efforts have been made to relocate the removed hawkers.
“No space has been demarcated for removed vendors to set up shop after they are evicted from Main Road. In this direction, work is going on to complete the vending zone to be constructed to the south of Jaipal Singh Stadium. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same is in the pipeline. For now, we will only provide logistics support to Ranchi traffic police,” stated Assistant Municipal Commissioner Bidya Nand Sharma Pankaj.
At least a temporary arrangement was expected, similar to the one made during Diwali and Chhath last year where vendors were relocated from MG Marg to the plot near Jaipal Singh Stadium where the vending zone is to be constructed. Although, this arrangement was limited only to a period of ten days and vendors constantly complained about decline in sales.
Meanwhile, vendors are adamant on not giving up State capital’s main artery as their marketing zone. “No vendors will leave MG Marg. Protests will ensue on basis of neglecting past SC verdicts decreeing that street vendors cannot be removed without rehabilitation arrangements along with associated legislations. Vendors who did not set up shop due to Ramnavmi have returned and will stay their ground,” stated Sandeep Verma, Secretary, National Hawkers’ Federation.