Hundreds of footpath vendors gathered on 3 May, 2023 in Patna at Paya No. 6 near the Railway station to register their protest against the ongoing process to evict them from the state capital Patna in the name of Smart City Mission. They were led by Com. Mehboob Alam, the leader of CPI(ML) in the State Legislative Assembly. While addressing the gathering, Com Mehboob said that since the Mahagathbandan government is being supported by our party, there is no reason why even a single vendor should be evicted. What we are witnessing is a blatant violation of street vendors (Protection of livelihood and regulation of vending 2014) Act by the use of bulldozers on vendors.
This law permits the vendors to use street sides or their mobile shops for vending. It is unfortunate that the coalition government is not implementing the law. He added that a delegation would be meeting the Urban Development Minister and Deputy CM of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav to appraise him of the situation. Our fight for the dignity and right to livelihood of the vendors will continue. If the government fails to rein in its bulldozers and not provide the vendors their legal rights, we will launch a bigger mass movement.
Filing an FIR on CPIML legislative leader for leading the protest for rights of vendors is deplorable
A case has been registered against the CPIML leader Mehboob Alam for leading a movement against the use of bulldozers by Nagar Nigam on vendors in Patna. The Bihar secretary of CPIML Kunal has condemned this action of the Nagar Nigam, which has charged the legislator of interfering in government work by lodging an FIR against him in the Kotwali Police station. He raised the point that how can the vendors be evicted in the name of Smart City without providing them alternate space? The Protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending Act is being continuously violated by the use of bulldozers. When this law gives the right to vendors to sell on streets, how can the government suddenly take the decision to evict them?
He said that the Urban Development and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Tejaswi Yadav should intervene in this matter and allocate vending spaces for the vendors and that the false case against Mahboob Alam, MLA and other protesters be dropped. Slapping a false case in such matters is tantamount to suppression of democratic resistance.
