With fears of Goods and Service Tax, Aadhaar card-bank account linkages and relocations looming large, the first-ever street vendor survey is stuttering in the city.
While street vendor associations and the civic body had estimated to enumerate over 1.5 lakh street vendors (from food carts to those selling vegetables and cloth), the survey so far has managed to identify just 30,000 people.
More than three-fourths of the survey has been completed, and those conducting it say there is immense hesitancy from vendors to be enumerated. “People have told us that they do not want to come forward as they will have to pay increased taxes under GST. They do not seem convinced even when we tell them they are exempt from GST. They say the constant changes in GST will end up taxing street vendors some day,” said Rangaswamy C.E. of Beedi Badi Vyapari Sanghatane. The organisation is reaching out to the Chief Minister’s Office, hoping that a word of encouragement from Mr. Siddaramaiah will revive the identification process. Take for instance Dasarahalli zone, where an estimated 5,000 street vendors operate along the major highway and the busy Dasarahalli market. So far, just 1,500 have enrolled, and of the 200 hawkers in the market, just 30 have identity cards that are given by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). “There is definitely a fear that being identified by the civic body will mean more taxes or having to relocate,” said B.K. Doddanna from Dasarahalli. In west zone, which is widely believed to have the most number of street vendors, just 5,000 have been identified.
At the sprawling Mahadevapura ward, vendor S.V. Shankarappa, who helped with the survey, says it is “neglect” and lack of awareness that is keeping vendors away. “We may have over 8,000 people in the zone, but barely 2,000 have enrolled so far. Many asked why they should get the card and if there was any point to this exercise,” he said.
The first-ever survey, which is a long-pending demand by street vendors, aims to identity beneficiaries for the Union government’s Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM). The BBMP has set aside ₹2 crore for beneficiaries in its recent budget.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said Aadhaar was not made compulsory to allay fears that street vendors will be left out. “We began the survey to find out the number of vendors...we will introduce a mechanism in the survey to ensure no one is left out.”