Nearly 1.5L street vendors in a fix

New Delhi: While the Sarojini Market has started opening on odd-even basis, Bablu Mahto, who sells clothes nearby, remains unsure about his future with his wares lying packed in blue tarpaulin sheets. And Mahto is not alone — around 1.5 lakh vendors in the capital don’t figure in the lockdown relaxation rules.
Popular markets like Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat and Karol Bagh are known for their streetside offerings from vendors, but now these are lined with tarpaulin-wrapped outlets with layers of dust gathering on them.
The National Association for Street Vendors has reported multiple instances of its members being roughed up by police in the past two days. Arvind Singh, its national coordinator, said, “Street vendors and weekly markets are simply not mentioned in the relaxation rules. Police are harassing vendors by not allowing them to set up shops. We have received calls from Karol Bagh and Harkesh Nagar.”
The association has urged the authorities to frame some regulations to let vendors resume their livelihood. “We have written to lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Union urban affairs ministry suggesting formation of time zones, conversion of weekly markets into daily ones to reduce crowd and space allocation,” Singh said. The policy makers are allowing takeaways for restaurants, but forgetting small food vendors, he alleged.
A government official said vendors had not been allowed to operate but the government was working on a plan to incorporate them in the relaxations.
According to the association, Delhi has over 400 big and small weekly markets. One such is Old Delhi’s Daryaganj Sunday Book Bazar, which has been relocated. Ashrafilal Verma, the vice-president of the Book Bazar association, said, “The livelihood of more than 275 vendors and their families depend on the market. What will we do now?” Pleading for some financial help from the government to revive the market, he said, “Most of us are broke.”
Singh said the lack of clarity on financial help and permission to open shops was affecting people. “The weekly markets come up in fixed localities where a large number of people belonging to the middle and lower strata replenish their reserves,” he added.