Bengaluru: The Karnataka govt’s announcement on Thursday that street vendors will be evicted from near Bowring Hospital has rattled hundreds of traders, who are looking down the barrel with no assurance on allotment of kiosks in designated hawking zones.When TOI visited the spot on Thursday afternoon, the footpath which held 300 vendors was empty. Barricades had replaced carts, minus the din of the trade.“The govt has not held anyone responsible for the tragedy. Now, they are depriving us of a place where we earned our daily bread. Not sure what lies ahead,” said family members of 35-year-old Azzu, who was injured in the head, and 20-year-old Sajid, who suffered a spinal injury.SV Shaan, a street vendor from Shivajinagar, said their question to the area MLA and govt is direct: “We are told we cannot return to that place. Where do we go and how will we earn a living?”Many vendors had long sought designated spaces in official hawking zones but were never allotted any. “If we had our kiosks, Azzu, Sajid and others would not have met with this tragedy. There is no clarity whether this was govt’s or the hospital’s fault. We need proper and early allocation in hawking zones,” he said.Mohammed Zabiulla, a cousin of injured Syed Zameer, said: “The tragedy occurred because of lapses in civil work. What’s the point in blaming or evicting street vendors from places where they have worked for years?”Naseer has 200 reasons to remember colleague NaseemullahHamsaveni.N@timesofindia.comBengaluru: A friendly loan of Rs 200 — insignificant, yet integral part of bond among street vendors — has made Naseer Ahmed indebted to Naseemullah, who died in the Bowring Hospital wall crash, for life.Naseer and Naseemullah were colleagues on Meenakshikoil Street in Shivajinagar for three decades. Naseer Ahmed, a cloth vendor, said, “Naseemullah had not given me a chance to repay the loan. I never expected he would be a victim in the rain-triggered tragedy.”For a strange reason, Naseer, who came to his shop on the street on Monday and Tuesday, chose not to turn up on Wednesday. In hindsight, there were enough reasons for his sudden absence: Unremitting heat, dull business or mid-week blues. That unexplained decision saved his life. He told TOI: “This must be God’s plan. He wanted me to live a little longer!”Survival has placed a burden hundred times heavier than the size of the loan that was not and would never be repaid. “It broke my heart when I heard the news,” Naseer said. “That money helped me. He was my neighbour, and we shared the space and our struggles,” he said, adding the vacuum will remain so.
