Metro all set to derail livelihood, fear hawkers
Times of India, Hyderabad, Feb 7, 2012.
HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metro Rail Project threatens to displace an estimated 40,000 street vendors across the city. At a meeting of various hawkers' associations held in Gudimalkapur on Monday, hawkers demanded that their livelihoods be protected.
Inayat Ali Baquiri, general secretary, National Hawkers' Federation (AP), said, "We pla n to protest against the metro rail project. If affected shop owners are given alternatives, hawkers must be given earmar ked hawking zones. The development of the city is important but not at the cost of a poor man's income." The associations plan to stage a dharna at the Assembly on March 30.
They also sought the implementation of the Supreme Court order on the protection of the livelihoods of hawkers. Shaktiman Ghosh, general secretary, National Hawkers' Federation, said, "The Supreme Court had asked state governments to provide for the protection of street vendors by June 30, 2011, since it recognised vendors carrying out their business as a fundamental right. The order remains unimplemented and, therefore, is a blatant contempt of court." He said that the policy and bill were first drafted in Andhra Pradesh and that it was unfortunate that hawkers remain ignored.
Hawkers also demanded that the Model Street Vendors Bill - which provides for protection of the livelihoods and regulates street vending -be passed at the Centre and state level, as it would protect them from displacement due to the metro rail project.
Representatives of various hawker associations said that a mere policy for the protection of their businesses was inadequate. They demanded an Act to be passed by Parliament which would protect them from harassment by police and GHMC officials. With governments of various states including Maharashtra, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan, having implemented the policy, hawkers questioned why the AP government had failed to do so.
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