Smart city project will drive urban poor out, says national hawkers’ body secretary
SHILLONG: India’s ambitious smart city project will cost the street vendors their livelihood, said Saktiman Ghosh, general secretary of the National Hawkers Federation.
Speaking to media persons during a training programme for hawkers here on Friday, Ghosh said that there will be evictions to make way for a city which will house people with ‘minimum income of Rs 1 lakh.’
“There will be no place for street vendors, slum dwellers, rickshaw pullers or the urban poor. Only people with minimum income of Rs 1 lakh will live in the smart city which will levy water and sanitation tax etc,” he said.
Ghosh also termed the frequent eviction of hawkers as illegal.
Referring to the central act– Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, he said that no street vendor can be evicted until the survey is complete and certificate of vending is issued to them.
“The government is brutally evicting the hawkers which is illegal,” he said.
He added that on Sunday, a rally will be taken out by the hawkers and a resolution will also be passed on the same day to stop eviction of hawkers and to implement the central act.
Ghosh echoed the cry of Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers and Street Vendors Association that the State Act– Meghalaya Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, is unconstitutional.
The National Hawkers Federation is conducting an all India leadership training for hawkers which will culminate on Sunday.
