Evicted street vendors neither compensated nor relocated

BMTC bus services now operating in cleared area at Russell Market

A bus drives down the road that two weeks ago was filled with the stalls of over 350 street vendors.

By Tej Sapru

BANGALORE (Dec. 8)—Street vendors who recently were kicked out of Russell Market, where they had been doing business for decades, have not been given compensation or an alternative place to set up shop, despite a national policy on street vendors that requires this.

“We were given a [Karnataka] High Court order to move them as they were causing congestion,’ said Shakeel Ahmed, corporator for the Bharti Nagar area. “They were not given any compensation as none of them held any license.”

Despite the authority’s explanation, locals believe the vendors were removed in early November because the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation wanted to use the road as a bus route.

“Who is more important—the bus people or the sellers?” asked Muhammad Aziz, a street vendor near Russell Market. “They [the street vendors] had been selling their whole lives. What are they going to do now?”

The BMTC started operating bus services through the area soon after the clearance took place.

Corporator: Vendors have only selves to blame

Ahmed said the vendors had made no effort to regularize their situation by applying for documentation, even though most of them had been there for over 30 years.

“On humanitarian grounds, our office got them a new place to sell, behind Bepari Mosque [a few streets away],” Ahmed said.

Locals estimate that over 350 shops were cleared, but a SoftCopy reporter could find no trace of the Russell Market members anywhere around the mosque.

“Some have gone to Tannery Road, some have become laborers, some just sit at home,” said T. Raju, a fruit vendor near the mosque.

Vendor: BBMP was paid off

Aziz acknowledges that none of the stalls had official licenses, but says there is more to the story.

“They all used to pay the corporation to stay there,” Aziz said. “There was no license, but they used to pay.”

Aziz would not say to which officials of the municipal corporation, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, payments were made, but insisted payments were made. Even if this was the case, it is clear that when the vendors’ presence became inconvenient, any money that had been paid for the past 30 years was not enough to protect them.

“No one was given any warning—not even a day! They just came and cleared everything,” Aziz said.