Speakers at the third district conference of Dakshina Kannada District Street Vendors Association said the rights of the street vendors have been denied to them. A large number of street vendors attended the event.
Pointing out that though their rights had been recognised by law, they said they were being repeatedly made to vacate by forcibly being sent away from the streets, and their petty shops and push carts had been seized by authorities illegally.
President of Karnataka State Street Vendors Association K.N. Umesh said street vendors were unable to take benefits of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, a health insurance scheme, and the Aam Admi Bima Yojana, a scheme meant to help children of the poor to study merely because they were unable to get identity cards or licences.
While street vendors could get health insurance of up to Rs. 30,000 per year for his family under the health insurance scheme, their children could get scholarship of Rs. 1,200 per year under the other scheme but one could member of the scheme only if they had identity cards which have not bee issued to them.
“Vending is our right. We will not alienate it at any cost,” he declared alleging that the successive Governments favoured the rich and took decisions that affected street vendors adversely. He said the Government had taken decision that helped the rich by waiving off wealth tax and reducing corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent to help those who earned in crores. It had also reduced taxes on packaged vegetables and fruits and this would result in flight of customers regularly buying from street vendors to malls that sold packaged products.
District Association's Honorary President Sunil Kumar Bajal said even after four meetings with the Mangaluru CIty Corporation, the vendors have not been given separate places to carry out their trade.
The promise made by Urban Development Minister that the street vendors would be given identity cards had not been implemented though six months had passed.
The leaders threatened to launch an agitation if their demands are not met.
By denying the benefits of health insurance, those in power are ensuring that we pay to private hospitals so that they enjoy at our expense.
K.N. Umesh
Karnataka State Street Vendors Association, president
