A few hundred street vendors, with majority of them being women, staged a protest on the Collectorate premises here on Monday against the Corporation’s plan to prevent them from setting up shops at the weekly market in Ponmeni area on Bypass Road.
The hawkers, who came under the banner of All India Trade Union Congress, said that the livelihood of at least a 1,000 families would be affected if they were prevented from vending every Friday, which they had been doing for past couple of decades.
Stating that the street vendors were setting up the shop only for a few hours in the evenings on Fridays, the petitioners said that they were in no way causing trouble to the motorists or pedestrians.
“In fact, the locals prefer us since they can buy fresh vegetables and other items at prices considerably lesser than that of departmental stores,” said C. Lakshmi, a street vendor from Sikkandar Chavadi.
Another protester pointed out that the hawkers were setting up the shops only on the service lanes, thereby not hindering traffic.
“The problem arose a few times before as well. We approached the Collector and the Corporation Commissioner, who allowed us to continue in the same area. The issue is again being raised unnecessarily now, owing to pressure from showrooms and other shopkeepers in the area,” he alleged.
They also blamed Madurai city police for allegedly sending a report that the weekly market was causing traffic and law and order problems in the area, which, according to them, was a key reason behind the Corporation’s plan to evacuate them.
M. Nanda Singh of AITUC, who presided over the protest, said that AITUC was organising similar protests in different places across the State on Monday to highlight the issues faced by street vendors.
“Despite Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act coming into force, street vendors continue to face harassment at various levels. Many of them have not been provided identity cards yet,” he said.
He urged the government to organise monthly grievance meetings at the Collectorate to address the issues of hawkers.