CUTTACK: Amid crackdown on encroachments and launching of an eviction drive along major thoroughfares in the City, the street vendors have got together to launch an agitation from July 14 demanding their rehabilitation through creation of vending zones. The street vendors under the banner of ‘Cuttack Khyudra O Uthadokani Mahasangha’ on Saturday alleged that despite the directions of the Orissa High Court and the assurances of the State Government in the Assembly for setting up vending zones in the City, not a single one has been created yet. “The street vendors are being mercilessly evicted and snatched of their meagre means of livelihood in the name of anti-encroachment drives by the police. The vendors are not only thrown out but are being penalised. With nowhere to go, hundreds of families of small roadside vendors and shop-owners are spending lives in utter misery now,” said Mahasangha president Subash Singh. After the Orissa High Court’s directions and the State Government’s commitment, a House Committee had visited the City last year to identify sites for creation of vending zones. About 20 sites had been identified for the purpose with the Cuttack Municipal Corporation taking the responsibility of setting up the vending zones. But not an inch has moved since, the vendors alleged. In sharp contrast, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has set up as many as 70 vending zones in the City providing means of livelihood to thousands of poor families in the Capital. There are more than 20,000 small roadside shop-owners and vendors in Cuttack. Robbing them off their livelihood without making alternative arrangement is sheer violation of human rights, the organisation said.
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