BENGALURU: A city-based street vendors’ association has urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to increase the compensation to the victims’ kin in Bowring Hospital boundary wall collapse tragedy on April 29. In its letter to the CM, Karnataka Pragatipara Beedhi Vyaparigala Sangha also expressed concern over the impact of the incident on already vulnerable street vendors.
The union’s demands include raising the compensation from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh considering the magnitude of the loss and the economic vulnerability of the victims’ families and Rs 10 lakh compensation for each injured vedndor, as many of them are likely to take several months to recover and earn their livelihoods. It also demanded a compensation for loss of goods, as several vendors have suffered loss of working capital.
In light of directions that vendors must not operate near unsafe structures, the union has urged the government to hold immediate consultations with them to identify and allocate safe and viable alternative vending spaces. Denial of vending spaces directly threatens the livelihood of these workers, it said.
Demanding a judicial enquiry to fix accountability for the wall collapse, the union urged the government to hold discussions on how to mitigate impacts of climate change on their lives and livelihoods on informal workers such as street vendors, gig and platform workers and pourakarmikas.