BALASORE: With the district administration intensifying its drive to evict street vendors since last week, hundreds of them took to the streets to voice their resentment against the move in Tanasahi area of Balasore town on Friday. Rallying under the aegis of Street Vendors Association (SVA), the protestors staged a sit-in dharna in front of Saheed Park and expressed their desperation at the district administration’s eviction exercise since seven years without a proper rehabilitation plan.
Sources said over 150-200 street vendors have been displaced in the town between 2014 and 2018 but are yet to rehabilitated. While the administration eased its anti-encroachment move briefly after 2018, it reportedly resumed and intensified its operations a week back.
Alleging the district administration has failed to resettle them, the agitating vendors said they have been displaced without any provision of alternate space to run their business. “How do we sustain if we are evicted and not duly rehabilitated? Our roadside vending business is our only source of income,” they alleged.
President of SVA in Balasore Jayanta Das said the district administration has violated guidelines under the Street Vendors Act, 2014 and is a mute spectator when big malls or shops encroach public space. But it has been insensitive while evicting small roadside vendors. Secretary of the association Mohini Parida also warned of a Balasore bandh on March 8 if the administration fails to come up with an alternate solution immediately.
Meanwhile, Balasore Sub-Collector Ashish Patil said the eviction was conducted in some places around the town where encroachments were proving obstacles for plying of ambulance and fire vehicles, construction of drains, etc. “I will look into the matter and ensure needful steps are taken,” he said.