Locals rue ousting of ‘unofficial’ vendors

PMC clears many vegetable sellers from city, which the residents say were convenient; officials encourage ‘authorised’ doorstep deliveries

Through its periodic anti-encroachment drives, one of which took place this week, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has shooed away many small “unauthorised” vegetable vendors from Koregaon Park, Baner and Kothrud. A few people, who recounted the benefits of having them, especially around societies — a trend that has been characteristic to the city for half a decade now — are now wary of queuing at crowded grocery stores. In this vein, they have also announced their support for local sellers — when PMC is asking them to only rely on their authorised ones.

Ali Daruwala, a resident of Koregaon Park’s Naylor Road, has questions for PMC for evicting the small vendors despite them following all the rules. “There are three societies in our vicinity. These small vendors have been our saviours, from whom, we quickly purchase our stock — all while maintaining social distancing. For the past two days, they have been evicted by PMC,” he said.

Daruwala, along with other residents of Naylor Road, are now protecting these vendors, wherein they gather in group when the PMC van approaches. They believe they are being Good Samaritans by helping these small vendors thrive.

These sellers, too, claim to be working in all honest. Ashalata Parkhe, a vegetable vendor who vends supplies in Koregaon Park’s lane number 7, said, “My son supplies eggs to people at their doorsteps and I sell fruits and vegetables. The produce comes from my brother’s farm in Loni and is sanitised before we sell it. Earlier, we worked as tailors in Hadapsar. After we lost our jobs, we took to this means of earning.”

In Kothrud and Baner, people have felt the ease of shopping with these vendors, too and have called of promotion of the local sellers over supermarkets and malls.

Sadanand Joshi, a resident of Sakal Nagar, said, “Even if we may be living in the non-containment zone, it would be irresponsible to rally to shops for supplies, especially when the vendors offer a convenient option. I can get all my essentials a little ahead on Baner Road. However, these vendors claim to have faced action from PMC.”

Another resident of Baner Road stressed, “While we are continuously being asked to support local produce these drives make it difficult for both, the buyers and sellers. This is not the time to restart the drive. My fruit seller has vanished since last week and said he will come to the society and deliver the items if needed; but, will no more sit on the street side.”

Many such vendors on Baner Road have taken to the home delivery. For instance, Jagannath Khurse, a vegetable vendor on Baner Road, said 5 kg of apples and several dozens of bananas were taken away by PMC a week ago. Since then, he has resorted to doorstep delivery.

Anita Dukale from Kothrud said, “I knew someone who started selling vegetables at DP Road, as her business of tiffin was affected in the lockdown. Earlier, she would sit with a few crates everyday but now she sells the essentials once in three days. This will also hamper the quality as the fruits may rot or last lesser than they would earlier after buying.”

On its part, PMC’s anti-encroachment department has said that these drives are routine and are being waged on “unauthorised” vendors across the city since people are not following “social distancing norms”. Madhav Jagtap, head of PMC’s anti-encroachment department, said, “We have put a list of more than 100 farmers on our website who are now selling vegetables and fruits at people’s doorstep at a normal rate. They sanitise the items before delivering and follow social distancing norms. We request people to buy from these authorised vendors.”