Street vendors protest over harassment

Dharna Chowk: Various street vendor associations of the city staged protest here on Monday, demanding that the State government implement Street Vendors Act-2014. The protest was organised by Telangana State Committee of National Association of Street Vendors of India.

Street Vendors Associations of Secunderabad, Qutbullapur, Arogya street, Sultan Bazar, Anandbagh, Moula Ali, Shadnagar, Balanagar and Kukatpally participated in the protest. Chairman of unorganised labour Congress Devunur E Lakshman, Telangana NASVI president Ranga Shaliwan, Nasvi Greater Hyderabad general secretary James John also participated in the protest.

Devunur said that there were about 3 crore street vendors in India, of which 5 lakh were in Telangana State and they have been doing business without any help from governments. Despite their valuable services to people, they were being frequently harassed by police and municipal officials, he said. Despite ruling by the Supreme Court not to disturb street vendors until a national policy on street vendors was formulated, police and officials harass them frequently by filing illegal cases against them, he said. According to Article 19 (1) (g), every Indian citizen has fundamental right to run small businesses, he said.

Lakshman said that the union government had passed 'Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014' but both Central and State governments have failed to implement the Act, he lamented. He demanded implementation of the Act and formation of state- and district-level grievance committees to address their issues. He demanded that the police stop filing petty cases against vendors and take measures to protect their right to run business. The association leaders Pochamma, MD Sajid, Jayasri, Saroja, Sarala, Vijay and others also participated in the protest.