In India's tech capital, a stark contradiction unfolds on the bustling footpaths. Thousands of street vendors in Bengaluru find themselves trapped in a legal paradox. While a central law promises protection, the ground reality involves frequent evictions, leaving their livelihoods hanging by a thread.
The Legal Shield and the Eviction Hammer
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014 clearly mandates that no vendor can be evicted until a proper survey is done, vending certificates are issued, and official zones are marked. However, the experience of vendors across the city's five new corporations tells a different story. They are routinely shooed away, along with their belongings, into an abyss of uncertainty.
Successive civic commissioners, first under the former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and now under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) and its five city corporations, have continued eviction drives without notifying a single designated vending zone as required by law. This is despite repeated surveys and policy announcements.
The scale of the issue is significant. While the former BBMP welfare wing estimated 27,000 street vendors in Bengaluru, the number of beneficiaries under the PM SVANidhi scheme in Karnataka reveals a startling figure of approximately 4 lakh. This micro-credit initiative, started in 2020, provides collateral-free loans to vendors, indicating a much larger informal workforce.
A Cycle of Surveys and Displacement
In 2024, a peculiar situation emerged. Even as the BBMP was conducting a re-survey of vendors, its enforcement teams were simultaneously carrying out eviction drives in several parts of the city. Civic officials justify these actions by arguing that vendors disrupt pedestrian walkways. Vendors counter that they have no alternative place to earn a living.
Post the 2024 survey, officials spoke of finalising vending zones and spots. Yet, the crucial next steps—demarcation of zones, public display of locations, and issuance of certificates—were never completed. Vendor unions argue the actual number of sellers is far higher than 27,000, leaving hundreds of unregistered vendors highly vulnerable.
The administrative division of Bengaluru into five corporations has added another layer of confusion. Vendors say they have nowhere to turn, unsure which authority to approach for their rights. Meanwhile, the survey data collected under BBMP is stalled, committees haven't been reconstituted, and each corporation carries out evictions without a common framework.
Voices from the Street
The human impact of this limbo is profound. In June this year, over 500 vendors gathered at Freedom Park to protest being removed overnight from their long-held spots without being offered any alternative location.
Vanajakshi T from Gandhi Bazaar stated, "We have been told to sit in a designated space, but it's not marked by GBA. We're yet to receive ID cards. Space is allotted only in Gandhi Bazaar and Vijayanagar. In other places, street vendors are being mercilessly evicted."
Manju from Jayanagar, who was part of BBMP's survey, expressed frustration: "I don't know its outcome. No ID cards in sight too. Let them allot a proper place."
Faiyaz Ali, a vendor for 20 years opposite Russell Market in Shivajinagar, summed up the decade-long wait: "It has been 10 years since the Act came into force. Only promises, nothing more."
Glimmers of Hope and Pending Solutions
There are some slow-moving initiatives. According to GBA, around 25,000 ID cards have been sent to city corporations for distribution to surveyed vendors. An official claimed these cards would protect vendors from eviction until zones are created, though the division of GBA has delayed the process.
Furthermore, GBA is close to issuing e-vending carts to 3,000 vendors and has issued verbal directions to corporations to halt evictions. Another dimension includes farmers from neighbouring districts who sell in city markets; officials acknowledge the need to streamline their inclusion.
Activists and the law itself prescribe a clear path forward: form committees with 40% vendor representation, scientifically identify vending and no-vending zones, notify these zones with proper markings, and provide written notice and an alternative spot before any relocation. The act emphasizes regulation, not removal, and prioritizes vendors with long-term standing (10-30 years).
Until these mandated steps are fully implemented, the streets of Bengaluru will remain a battleground where the right to livelihood clashes with civic enforcement, leaving thousands of vendors on unsteady ground.
