Bengaluru
For the past six years, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has not conducted a survey of street vendors, causing traders to miss out on government benefits. While BBMP initiated the survey in 2022, it faced opposition from the street hawker sector. The primary objection was the use of a private agency to conduct the survey instead of corporation staff, which was seen as a violation of the rules. Consequently, street vendor organizations insisted on corporation staff carrying out the survey. However, due to various technical reasons, including the assembly elections, the survey was postponed indefinitely. This has left those reliant on street vending without proper identification and deprived of government benefits. The benefits in question include the Dhana Mantri Swanidhi Yojana benefits, health plans, and children’s scholarships, which require accurate survey data to be distributed. As a result, the Federation of Karnataka Street Side Organizations has reported that traders are not receiving these benefits. In the earlier survey conducted by the corporation, certain categories of street vendors, such as pushcart, vegetable, flower, and fruit sellers, were not included. Additionally, the survey hours from 5 am to 5 pm did not account for vendors in markets like KR Market and Kalasipalya, which operate outside of these hours. This has led to calls for a new survey to be conducted under the provisions of the Trade Regulation Act of 2014, considering both morning and evening traders’ needs and ensuring accurate representation of the street vending community.
