VELLORE: Street vendors who operate tiffin shops opposite Anna Kalai Arangam in Vellore petitioned the Corporation Commissioner on Wednesday regarding civic body workers confiscating their pushcarts on January 30 and 31.
P Saravanan, District Secretary of the New Democratic Labour Front, said that four pushcarts were confiscated on January 30 and seven on January 31, without any prior notice. Saravanan added that his shop was also confiscated, despite having a government-recognised street vendor ID. He mentioned that around a dozen shops had been operating in the same location for the past 30 years.
“Their livelihood depends on the shop. They earn around Rs 760 to Rs 1,000 a day. This sudden act by the civic authorities without any notice or reason has caused distress among their families. This is against The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014,” he said.
According to the sources, a DMK party meeting had been organised on January 25 in the area. So the party cadres had allegedly asked the street vendors to not open their shops on that particular day. As a result, a squabble broke out between DMK cadres and street vendors, which resulted in the confiscation of the pushcarts of the vendors by the civic authorities on January 30 and January 31, citing traffic congestion and lack of permissions. The vendors eventually claimed that the corporation was acting under political influence.