Hawkers’ body writes to VMC against demolition drive ‘sparked’ by murder

The representation stated, “We are writing this letter to you on behalf of street vendors of Vadodara, who have suffered losses and are being evicted from their place of vending for the past 15 days, as has been reported by various media platforms, in different areas including Ajwa, Tandalja, Akota, Pratanagar, Macchi Pith, Fatehpura, Bhutdijanpa and others. And it is clear from the actions of the corporation that in the name of targeting ‘anti-social’ elements and ‘illegal encroachments’, vendors who are also economically marginalised are being disproportionately targeted.”

It further said, “This is happening post the unfortunate and gruesome death of Tapan Parmar. The accused in that particular case should be held accountable in accordance with the law and the matter should be thoroughly investigated by the police. But the actions of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, seemingly retributive and being triggered in response to a particular crime, are in violation of the cardinal principle of criminal jurisprudence reinforced by the Supreme Court, where the Honourable judges observed that demolition of houses and properties in response to a crime would amount to inflicting collective punishment… on the community and others, which is not permitted by the scheme of the Indian Constitution.”

The representation further stated that the actions of the corporation “also violates the street vendors’ act and its various provisions, which protect the rights of the vendors”.

Earlier, a delegation of civil society groups and hawkers’ federation met the Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Hasmukh Prajapati, on November 27 and submitted a letter highlighting “the illegalities and highhandedness” of the officials.

The group also asked the civic body to provide details about the orders under which the evictions and demolitions were being carried out as well as the notices issued to vendors before taking such an action.

The memorandum, on Wednesday, stated, “Shockingly, the Deputy Commissioner (Prajapati) asked the representatives to file an RTI to get the relevant copy of the order. This raises grave suspicion on the motive behind such actions of the corporation, and the corporation needs to make the orders sanctioning such action public in the spirit of proactive disclosure mandated by the Right to Information Act, 2005.”

In the memorandum, the hawkers’ federation highlighted that the civic body had “served no notice” to the vendors and “seized perishable and non-perishable goods of vendors without following the due procedure”. The memorandum also stated that VMC had failed to “constitute a Town vending committee and a Dispute redressal mechanism under section 20 of the act”.

The federation has demanded that the VMC should “stop the illegal eviction drive immediately and conduct a survey of all the affected vendors.” Further, it said, “The vendors must be compensated in accordance with their loss, and vending carts and goods confiscated by the VMC should be released and handed over to the vendors without any fine or penalty.”

VMC officials were unavailable for comment.

Tapan Parmar, the son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former VMC corporator Ramesh Parmar, was allegedly stabbed to death on the premises of a government hospital in Vadodara on November 18. Five people were arrested in the case.