Gujarat HC allows AMC to temporarily shift street vendors in Bhadra to 2 nearby plots

The Bhadra area, where the annual Diwali market also comes up ahead of the festive season, has a high concentration of street vendors.

According to the plan, the vendors will shift to the temporary sites, one located behind Dadabhai Navroji Library, around 100 meters from the current location, near Pankornaka, Teen Darwaja, and the other at Dhalgarwad Chowk, the AMC said in a statement on Thursday after the High Court accepted its affidavit to shift the vendors.

The verbal order of the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D N Ray noted that the interim arrangement was being made to “address the immediate concern of the street vendors operating under the aegis of Self Employed Workers Association (SEWA) and Self Employed Labour Organization (SELO), the non-governmental organisations” in the Bhadra area.

The order considered the AMC submissions with regard to the encroachments on the roads and footpaths, “coupled with an absolute vehicular lock-jam, making it impossible for fire, emergency and police vehicles to access key parts of the walled city, leading to a dangerous situation”.

In the course of the hearing, the court examined AMC’s affidavit in which the civic body stated that more than 1,500 vendors had occupied the short 250-metre corridor between Maa Bhadrakali Temple and Teen Darwaza.

The verbal order of the court also notes the assertions of the AMC that “during the festive season, inflow of devotees visiting Maa Bhadrakali Temple on a daily basis increases manyfold”.

The AMC had suggested that the registered vendors of the two organisations can be accommodated on two plots near Teen Darwaza, about 100 meters from the Central Garden of the Bhadra Parisar, which are open and without any obstruction.

The oral order of the court states that after the initial opposition from the petitioners’ advocates, the offer of the AMC was accepted as part of the temporary arrangement made by the court so that the registered street vendors with SEWA and SELO “may not be deprived of their livelihood during Diwali festival”.

The order also notes that SEWA and SELO had given their undertaking to cooperate with the AMC in the arrangement and have provided identity cards to the registered street vendors identified by them so that there would be “no encroachment by unauthorised persons over the plots in question”.

The court, in its verbal order, also stated that “no street vendor would be entitled to put up any kiosk or any table or cot etc to sell their goods, either on the public street or on the pedestrian footpath in the Bhadra Parisar area till further orders of this court.”

The court also said that if any unauthorised person occupies a public street or pedestrian footpath without permission, it will be treated as “law and order situation” and dealt with accordingly.

The district administration and the AMC officers have been directed to maintain the law and order situation during the relocation of street vendors as the matter will now be heard on November 28, after the Diwali vacation of the court.

The interim arrangement ordered by the court comes as a relief to the AMC, which has proposed a comprehensive plan to clear and redevelop the Bhadra Parisar as part of the revival of the city’s historic and spiritual heart by restoring order and accessibility in the congested Bhadra–Teen Darwaza stretch.

The AMC added that its Estate Department will carry out an intensive drive inside Bhadra Plaza and implement necessary measures to ease traffic movement and ensure compliance with the High Court’s directives. The Bhadra Plaza records a high footfall, especially during weekends,  that buyers even find it difficult to walk.