BBMP seizes goods of street vendors on Church Street

Street vendors on Church Street protest against unfair seizure of goods by civic officials, demanding acknowledgment and proper procedure.

When civic officials came armed with an empty lorry to seize goods being sold by street vendors on Church Street on Wednesday, most of the vendors ran to hide their goods. But the officials seized the goods of three vendors and dumped them in the lorry and were about to leave like they did many times before. But Wednesday was different. The street vendors staged an impromptu protest. 

Swami Gowda, who sold caps and socks on the footpath, said that the civic body, under pressure from shopkeepers and residents of Church Street, had been trying to evict them since November, 2024.

“The BBMP comes armed with a lorry, seizes our goods, and takes them without even giving us an acknowledgement of the seizure. Most times, we don’t even get back half of the seized goods. What we get back is usually damaged. It is wrong to target us like this. We have had enough of this and staged a protest on Wednesday, demanding an acknowledgement for the seizure,” he said. 

Social activists supporting street vendors came to the spot and demanded that civic officials serve notices and do a mahazar of the seized goods as per The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

“Civic officials who came for the drive refused to perform mahazar. After a protest and an intervention by the police, an officer gave an undertaking in writing, without any formal sign, or seal from the civic body. The officials only allowed us to take a photograph of it and did not even give us the original,” said Hamdan Quraishi, an activist who was at the spot.

Mr. Quraishi further alleged that the police also sided with civic officials and were trying to disrupt the impromptu protest, quoting a High Court order saying any protest outside Freedom Park was illegal.