The footpath vendors in Mysore are facing eviction threats to make way for pedestrians and also improve the city’s beauty and cleanliness on the eve of the Dasara celebrations.
For the last few days, it has been a battle between footpath vendors and the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) which has launched ‘operation footpath clearance’.
A meeting convened to discuss the vendors’ issues last Monday saw fisticuffs between some elected reprepresentatives and a leader of a footpath vendors’ organisation, resulting in the latter being taken into custody by the police.
Though the MCC had announced it would launch the operation to clear the footpath encroachments from today on the city’s busy roads, no such action was seen until noon. Loudspeaker announcements, however, kept the vendors warned of eviction.
Pressure was mounting on the MCC from some local NGOs and others to provide smooth passage for pedestrians on the city’s busy roads. Following this, the MCC had begun the operation with the assistance of the police, but the vendors reappeared soon after in the same areas.
Footpath vending is not new to Mysore, but it has grown in proportion over the years, with busy public places occupied illegally by vendors. The MCC launches a temporary drive and clears places like Sayyaji Rao Road, Devaraj Urs Road and Sri Harsha Road and the Devaraja Market surroundings, but the vendors reappear at the same places once the MCC relaxes.
Prior to the menace spreading, the MCC collected a ground fee from vendors like fruits, flowers and vegetables, regularising their presence in a way. This practice was given up and today the vendors pay neither a fee nor tax to any government agency.
However, in some places the vendors have made an organised effort on their own, like the second-hand booksellers opposite the Lansdowne Buildings and the temporary eateries, which appear on the Krishnavilas Road, adjacent the Nallappa Thana Police Station. Among those evicted were the latter too.
The meeting chaired by MP C H Vijayashankar on Monday was convened to discuss the issue of clearing the encroachments. When some vendor-leaders were invited to make their views, trouble arose resulting in police intervention.
Some corporators, including Mayor Ayub Khan, alleged subsequently that mafia was operating in footpath trading and no mercy should be shown to them. There are around 5,000 footpath vendors in the city.
Addressing reporters, president of the Chamundeswari Footpath Merchants’ Federation, one of the half a dozen footpath vendors’ unions, said their organisation was not connected with the August 11 incident.
M Manjunath Doddamane rejected the allegation that mafia was operating and the allegation that they had offered Rs 5 lakh to the Mayor for allowing them to continue on the footpaths.
