BENGALURU: On Sunday, the BBMP authorities along with police personnel conducted survey of street vendors at Dasarahalli and many vendors, who could not be part of the survey for various reasons, demanded the Palike to conduct the survey again to enable them to get valid licence. The intermittent rains also played a spoilsport.
The members of Bruhat Bengaluru Beedhi Vyaapaari Sanghatanegala Okkoota (Federation of Street Vendor Unions of Bengaluru), a federation of Street Vendor union, who faced harassment by police and BBMP officials had called for the survey.
Several street vendors could not participate and demanded the BBMP officials in Dasarahalli zone to continue the survey for a few more days. Each vending zone must be covered twice - once in the morning, once in the evening - to make sure all kinds of vendors are included, they said.
Awareness activity through banners and publicity to the survey were displayed only in main markets.
Rangaswamy, a trader, said that the survey conducted on Sunday must be considered as a pilot, and the rest seven zones of BBMP must take corrective measures while conducting surveys in their respective zones. The survey to be undertaken must ensure that all existing street vendors are covered, and can avail ID cards.
Since it was raining since early morning most vendors had stopped business or left the space.
Venkatesh, a guava seller, had brought ID proofs and photos of himself and his family members. He waited near State Bank on Laggere main road for a few hours, but did not come across any BBMP survey officials, he had to leave for his daily business.
He said that further down on the main road he could not find anybody and urged the BBMP to provide him another chance to enroll.
