Police harass pushcart vendors at KR Market in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Street vendors selling vegetables, fruits, under the hot Sun are trying to eke out a living during the festival season. Amid the rush at KR Market, traffic police harassed pushcart vendors and cleared the road.

The police harassed a poor elderly vendor who was selling guava fruits on a pushcart. A policeman pushed the cart and spilled a bag of vegetables on to the ground and vandalised some places in few minutes. This led to poor sellers question that if the police show such rudeness with them, where would they go? The entire incident was covered by Public TV.

According to the Street Vendors Act, every citizen has a right to sell on the streets. If there is any problem with traffic police, they should inform the BBMP officials concerned. The traffic police are not supposed to harass vendors like throwing out vegetables, fruits on the street or roads, shouting at them and using abusive language. Street vendors had to put up with lost of dignity as well as their investment due to such arrogant behaviour of the traffic police toward elderly people.

This is not the first time that the police have harassed street vendors. The traffic police are furiously posting photos on social media with the caption that they have cleared street vendors. According to the Street Vendors Act, no street vendor can be evicted without issuing notice. There is a city trade committee in the BBMP area as well. If there is a problem with a poor street vendor, it should be brought to the attention of the BBMP joint commissioner.

The district street vendors’ association has also expressed outrage over such acts. The traffic police are deployed to ensure that no problems occur and traffic is handled smoothly. But the traffic police behaved rudely with the traders, the association pointed out.