BENGALURU: Babu Khan, a 42-year-old street vendor selling purses in Shivajinagar, was in a fix when the lockdown was announced in March, and had little time to find a way to fend for his wife and children. He quickly took up a job as a Zomato delivery agent, hoping the income from this would help him tide over.
Though he managed to earn between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000 in March and April, the effects of the pandemic caught up. Now, he sits at home most of the time, and calls himself lucky if he gets even a delivery or two a day. “They do not allow us to sell our goods on the street. I have not paid my house rent and find it very difficult to survive. We need some sort of compensation from the government. I have sent applications to the BBMP requesting for the same,” Khan told The New Indian Express.
His financial distress is not unique to him - this is the case with 90 per cent of vendors selling fast food, chaat, bags and purses, clothes, belts, and other petty items. “Either the authorities close our shops and evict us, or if we manage to set up shop elsewhere, customers are few due to the fear of catching Covid. In smaller districts, they allow us to work for a couple of hours, but only if we work the whole day will we be able to sustain ourselves.
The Majestic underpass, for instance, is entirely closed for vendors,” said Uday Kumar, president of Karnataka Rajya Raste Beedhi Vyaparigala Mahamandala said. Fruit and vegetable vendors are in a better position as they are allowed to work even during lockdowns. The Rs 10,000 loan under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors’ Atmanirbhar Nidhi scheme has not reached any vendor due to some technical and non-technical issues.
Street vendors have been asking for Rs 15,000 monthly compensation for the last three months or for their rent and kids’ schools fees to be covered by the state government. While the government gave compensation to cab and auto drivers, washermen and barbers, street vendors have been ignored. Bhaskar Urs, Vice President, National Association of Street Vendors of India, wrote to PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, the Central Urban Development Secretary and CM BS Yediyurappa, arguing that if Zomato, Swiggy, Pizza Hut and Dominos, etc, are being allowed to go about their business, why deprive food vendors. “We are providing Covid-19 training to food vendors. Cash transfers should be made at once to street vendors under National Urban Livelihoods Mission,” he urged in the letter. Co-operation Minister S T Somashekhar said there was no plan to provide compensation to street vendors.