GBA proposes policy for moving abandoned vehicles on Bengaluru streets to designated dump yards

“We have provided two towing vehicles to each corporation. Wherever parking is not permitted, and vehicles are parked, they will be towed,” he added.

The deputy CM also stated that a new policy was being formulated to ban street vendors from operating on main and sub-main roads of Bengaluru.

“We have decided to introduce a new policy for footpaths. Citizens are struggling to walk on footpaths due to encroachment by street vendors. It has been decided to allocate separate spaces for vendors so that pedestrians can freely use the footpaths. Specific roads must be designated for street vending,” Shivakumar said.

The GBA executive committee meeting and the budget meeting of the five GBA corporations were held on March 20, with officials from the police, BESCOM, BMRCL, BWSSB, and BDA, Bengaluru ministers, and MLAs in attendance.

“If vendors trade during the day and leave their carts parked on the roadside at night, officials will seize them and take them away. Vendors must be aware of this,” the deputy CM said.

“As many as 60,000 street vendors have registered, and 30,000 of them have requested vending carts. Tenders have been called for this. Only those street vendors with an identity card will be permitted to do business. Those without an identity card will not be allowed to do business by the roadsides,” he said.

Last month, the state Cabinet approved the empanelment of vendors to provide subsidised autorickshaws, cars, and e-vending vehicles to eligible street vendors in the city at a cost of Rs 42 crore.

The government has proposed providing subsidies for the purchase of autorickshaws, cars, and e-vending vehicles to eligible beneficiaries and street vendors in the five Greater Bengaluru Area corporations where elections are due later this year.

The state government’s urban development department has proposed a maximum subsidy of Rs 80,000 per autorickshaw and Rs 1.5 lakh per car for eligible beneficiaries across the five GBA regions. In addition, the urban development department has proposed supplying e-vending machines to street vendors, with a total outlay of Rs 42.84 crore.

The subsidies have been proposed as part of GBA’s welfare programmes. Street vendors are being offered a 90 per cent subsidy on e-vending vehicles under the GBA proposal.