In no mind to accept Jharkhand High Court’s order directing their removal from the State capital’s main artery, MG Road street-vendors of Ranchi have decided to seek legal recourse to make their pleas heard.
Organisations representing street side vendors of Ranchi have decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court to stay the ousting order. The sellers are building their arguments on the basis of the apex court’s directive of December 2013 stating that street vendors should not be removed without making adequate rehabilitation arrangements for them.
“There are hundreds of vendors who earn their livelihood from their small businesses along the Main Road. It is not right to remove them without rehabilitation. We will file a petition with Supreme Court and will move ahead after consulting our lawyers,” said Anita Das, general secretary of Ranchi Footpath Dukaandar-Hawkers’ Association over a telephonic conversation from New Delhi.
On Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice S Chandrashekhar had ordered Ranchi traffic police to rid Mahatma Gandhi Road (Main Road) of encroaching street vendors and wrongly parked vehicles to clear the stretch for smooth flow of traffic.
Along with moving courts, the street vendors will also take to the streets with their demands, Das further added. However, Jharkhand High Court has clearly stated that the eviction process cannot be stopped on account of protests against absence of rehabilitation facilities.
“Government and administration has always had an apathetic outlook towards regularising street vendors despite orders from courts and a legislation stipulating the same. They are guilty of delaying the regularising process but took up instructions to evict the vendors enthusiastically. The protests will reflect our dissent over this attitude,” Das said.
Presently, a Patna-based organisation, Samman Foundation, is surveying the street vendors in Ranchi so that they can be properly registered and rehabilitated. More than 3,000 vendors have been verified till March 30 and the remaining will be covered by April 20, stated Abid Ashraf Khan, Programme Manager of Samman Foundation.
But the eviction might prove to be a hindrance in the process, vendors believe. It is through this survey that the vendors will be given identity cards and the new Town Vending Committee (TVC) will be formed. As per the Street Vendors Act, it is the TVC’s responsibility to oversee the rehabilitation work for the hawkers.
The ongoing process of surveying the vendors will be meaningless as there will be no vendors to survey if they are removed, Das stated. “So, we will compel Ranchi Municipal Corporation to speed up the survey process and construction of vending zones after forming the TVC,” she said.
Instructed to help Ranchi traffic police with the eviction, the urban local body has made some headway towards rehabilitation of hawkers but that might not prove to be effective when they are removed from Main Road.
“The six places chosen previously for vending zones have been dropped due to unavailability of land. Now, one vending zone will be constructed on the land we have south of Jaipal Singh Stadium. Funds amounting Rs 10 crores have already been received by RMC in the last financial year. Tenders for the same will be floated shortly after its Detailed Project Report is drafted,” stated Assistant Municipal Commissioner Bidya Nand Sharma Pankaj.