The roadside vendors owing allegiance to the Allipuram Mahatma Gandhi Market Chiru Vyaparasthula Sangam affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) staged a demonstration at the Mahatma Gandhi statue near the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) administrative building on Thursday, demanding cancellation of the collection of daily cess from them.
Sangam district president S.K. Rehaman and CPI leader Kasireddy Satyanarayana said that hundreds of petty vendors and their family members have been doing business at the market for the past 80 years.
They said the GVMC had collected money in the form of demand drafts from the vendors for establishment of permanent shops for them.
It was agreed upon at that time that no taxes would be paid by the vendors for the rest of their lives, they pointed out.
In violation of that agreement, a proposal was made by the municipal corporation to collect taxes from the vendors, said the Sangam leaders.
The Sangam leaders also demanded the payment of ₹10,000 a month for six months to the petty vendors so that the latter can make up for the losses incurred by them in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.
Sangam secretary N. Srinivasa Rao and president M. Venkayamma took part in the protest.