Footpaths cleared in several parts of Bengaluru, but where will vendors go?

Bengaluru: As Bengaluru’s five city corporations intensify footpath-clearance drives under the Greater Bengaluru Authority’s (GBA) Safe Footpath initiative, a key question remains unanswered: where will thousands of street vendors displaced from pavements earn their livelihood?While Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byre Gowda has maintained that vendors are not being evicted but only shifted from arterial roads to ward-level streets, the move has triggered concerns.

Civic activists say their rights and livelihoods must be protected.Experts argue that footpath safety cannot be selectively enforced on major roads while ignoring conditions on neighbourhood streets.For years, such drives have followed a familiar cycle. Authorities remove vendors, only for many to return within days. Vendors, however, say they have no alternative spaces to work.The recurring cycle points to a structural gap — the incomplete implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, designed to balance pedestrian rights with vendors’ livelihoods.The Act mandates surveys of vendors, formation of Town Vending Committees, issuance of vending certificates, and scientific demarcation of vending zones based on carrying capacity and pedestrian movement.The then BBMP conducted a survey identifying 30,000 vendors and mapped 230 potential zones with 7,000 spots. But, the process was never completed. No vending zones have been notified, no cards issued, and the committees — the statutory bodies meant to regulate vending — remain unconstituted.

Over the years, govts have proposed steps such as mobile vending units. A budget allocation of Rs 42 crore was announced, but vendors say progress has been minimal.Vinay Sreenivasan, advocate, said: “The govt must complete the survey, constitute vending committees and notify vending zones. You cannot enforce only the eviction provisions of the Act and ignore its protections. The question is not whether pedestrians need footpaths, but whether Bengaluru can create streets that work for pedestrians, vendors and traffic together.”Questions That Need Answers*If 30,000 vendors were surveyed, why has not a single vending zone been officially notified?*What happened to the exercise that identified 230 zones and 7,000 vending spots?*Why have no vending ID cards been issued?*Why have town vending committees not been constituted?*If vendors are removed from arterial roads, where exactly are they expected to go?Campaign to clear abandoned vehiclesA drive will be launched to clear abandoned vehicles parked on the roadsides from July 10. A plan will be chalked out to clear bulk construction debris and wild vegetation after July 15.