BHUBANESWAR : Street vendors on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the north zonal office of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) demanding immediate withdrawal of the decision to evict makeshift shops ahead of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) conclave in the capital city.
Hundreds of street vendors took out a protest march at Nalco square and gheraoed the zonal office of BMC seeking fulfilment of their seven-point charter of demands. The blockade disrupted traffic on the busy Nandankanan-Jaydev Vihar road for some time.
The agitators demanded that the civic body should initiate measures for their rehabilitation before carrying out any eviction. The rehabilitation should be around the same place from where they would be evicted.
“Most often we are offered to put up stall at a site far away from the place of our business which seriously impacts our livelihood. We demand our rehabilitation the same way it has been done for the vendors along Janpath road,” said a street vendor from Niladri Vihar area.