Pavements on main roads are meant for pedestrians. But it is quite easy for hawkers to pay a hafta to the local law keeperes and get space on pavements. The hawkers can further legitimize their position by getting a TehBazari permit from MCD. The hawker then gets protection under the Street Hawkers Act of 2014. No hawker can be removed without a proper survey – this is the domain of those who grant the permission.
Food vendors do need space to conduct their business in dignity. But this requires planning by the authorities – something that remains in the electoral ‘promise’ zone. Street vendors are an important source of both legitimate income as well as grease. Government earns through licenses, taxes. Vendors also belong to and serve an important vote bank – the one that matters.
But what about those who need to traverse the area safely? What about their rights? The example here is the case of Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Marg connecting Mathura Road to Jamia University via Sarai Juleina. This is a wide 100 ft road. At the entrance from Mathura Road, on one side is NFC Market and on the other side is the Mohd Ali Park. As you can see from the photo, not only have the pavements been taken over by food stalls but because of the taxis, 3-wheelers and others stopping to eat, even the road reduced to hardly 30 feet. This makes crossing the road quite hazardous. The adjoining park is infested with rats who are getting fat with the constant feed available. Some of the young smaller ones go looking for food in neighbourhood homes. The food preparation by these hawkers commences around 4 am each morning and continues until late at night. These are small stalls but the revenue they generate will be much more than the restaurants in the NFC market. A mains pipeline of DJB was punctured recently to provide water for cooking and cleaning to these stalls. So, are even DJB staff complicit in giving permanence to these stalls?
The NFC market is full of small food stalls. It’s a great place if you are one of the brave ones who enjoy street food. So why the need for legitimising pavement hawkers just across the road?
by Anant Trivedi: President (Ishwar Nagar, RWA)
