Bengaluru: A joint action committee of street vendors, comprising five street vendors’ associations, has called for a street vendors’ bandh and a mass protest in Bengaluru Wednesday, questioning the legality of the ongoing eviction drive against roadside vendors. The associations have accused the state govt of violating the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.The associations posed a series of questions to the greater Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byre Gowda, asking whether the govt would compensate vendors for losses caused by the sudden evictions, why free parking for private vehicles has continued, and whether the govt was knowingly violating the Street Vendors Act and Supreme Court rulings. They also questioned how oral directions could be treated as legal notice and why the govt was linking pedestrian deaths to street vending when most fatalities occur while people are crossing roads.The associations alleged that vendors were evicted without mandatory surveys, 30-day written notices, or alternative vending spaces, in violation of the 2014 Act. They said Bengaluru has around 1.5 lakh street vendors, but only 34,000 were identified in a survey conducted between Oct 2024 and Feb 2025, leaving many without identity cards and legal protection.The committee demanded an immediate halt to the eviction drive, restoration of vendors to their original locations or provision of alternative vending spaces, return of confiscated goods, completion of the vendor survey, issuance of identity cards, and the constitution and strengthening of town vending committees. It also urged the govt to act against illegal parking, shop extensions, construction material and other encroachments on footpaths instead of targeting street vendors.
