A city level campaign of Street Hawkers, Dalits, Human Rights Activists, Social and Progressive Organizations

End our evictions. They are unconstitutional and contrary to the National Street Vendors Policy

Value our contributions to the society. Respect our fundamental rights. We demand legal cover and social security

The past several months, we, the street hawkers of Bangalore, have been the victims of forcible eviction by the BBMP, the police and Muzrai departments who have undertake an aggressive and continuous exercise to ‘clear’ the streets and pavements of Shivajinagar, Jayanagar, Ulsoor and Gandhinagar without giving us any prior notice or allocation of any alternate location for our livelihood (see details in adjoining sheet). Since then we and our families are struggling to survive as we have been left with absolutely no source of income – we are unable to pay the school fees for our children and many have been pulled out of school, our landlords have given us notice as we have not paid our house rent. The reason given for our evictions is apparently that we are impeding flow of traffic and pedestrians or that our presence makes the city ugly.

Street hawkers are an integral part of Bangalore’s daily life and its residents are all beneficiaries of the work of the street hawkers. From the vegetable vendor pushing his cart in localities, to the cobbler, the coconut vendor, the flower seller outside places of worship, the tea seller, the santhes, etc., the general public depend on street hawkers for their daily needs and convenience. In fact it is impossible to imagine Bangalore, or any other city, without its street hawkers.

These illegal actions of the BBMP and the police violate our [street vendors’] fundamental rights enshrined under Article 19(1) (g) and Article 21of the Constitution of India, as well as Article 39(a) of the Constitution of India,.This also represents the failure of the State to fulfil its obligations to guarantee everyone, the right to work, free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment as enshrined under Article 23 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and to take appropriate steps to safeguard this right as derived from Article 6(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

These actions of the BBMP are not just illegal and unconstitutional but also contrary to the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, 2009 issued by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India. It is pertinent to note that the Policy recognizes street vendors as an integral and legitimate part of the urban retail trade and distribution system. It also recognizes that street vendors provide valuable services to the urban masses while eking out a living through their own enterprise, limited resources and labour. It is also necessary to point out that after the Policy was passed, the Hon’ble Prime Minister has sent a letter to all the Chief Ministers seeking that the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors 2009 be implemented and legislation be enacted taking into account the Model Bill which is part of the Policy to “enable street vendors to ply their trade without harassment”.

Moreover, the BBMP is also in violation of the judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court which has recognized street vending as a fundamental right under the Constitution of this country, and as we should know, fundamental rights cannot be denied to anyone. In fact, the Supreme Court, in Mahrashtra Ekta Hawkers’ Union & Another – Versus-Municipal Corporation, Greater Mumbai & Others, in its order dated 12th February 2007, has observed that any steps taken in regard to Street Vendors should be in consonance with the aims and objects of the National Policy to render some sort of succour to urban street vendors to enable them to earn livelihood through hawking.

In spite of all our efforts to secure our rights to conduct our business fulfilled, the BBMP has not met our demands. We are therefore conducting a protest march on Thursday, Oct 21 , 11am, from Russell Market Chowk to BBMP Head Office to press for our demands:

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Get ready for the showers (and hopefully, no water-logging all over the city)

Place Domlur Kormangala inner ring road – Sunday late noon today, a traffic officer rides his bike without helmet and in wrong direction, looks like ‘charity is yet to begin at home’..

To see the manifesto created by many citizen volunteers,

click here

and keep this for ready reference.

It’s you and I who are concerned citizens of Bangalore, and together, we can make a difference!

Cycle Rally – 7th March 2010

The Event: ‘Go Green Bangalore’ – A Cycle Rally in Bangalore on Sunday, 7th March 2010, 6.30 am.

The Task: Cycling 21 kms : Kanteerva Stadium – Hebbal Flyover – Kanteerva Stadium.

The Cause:

· To commemorate International Women’s Day.

· To tell Bangalore that it is time to Go Green and Healthy.

· To urge the Government to create cycling and walking lanes around the city.

Participation: Anyone and everyone who believes in cleaner and greener Bangalore. Beg, borrow, buy a cycle and be at Kanteerva Stadium. Email us and we will send you the application form.

Conducted by: Women Adventure Network of India (WANI), this event is being held in Bangalore, Nagpur, Jamshedpur, Mount Abu, Baroda and Surat.

Contact:

· Vasumathi Srinivasan: vasumathis@dataone.in

· Smitha Srinivasan: smithasrinivasan@gmail.com

Have you ever wondered what to carry with you on a long ride? Have you been puzzled by how to administer first-aid to a fallen bicyclist? Have you seen bollywood movies where the hero beats on the chest of the his sweet-heart and brings her back to consciousness and wondered if that is really needed? Do you know why a male army doctor and an ardent bicyclist carried a sanitary napkin with him on our trip to Muthathi?

Find answers to all your questions on Saturday, February 20th at 6PM in the evening at our BOTS. Click

here

for location.

Dr.Major Srinivas, an army major and a doctor will be giving us a CPR and First Aid session on how to really be there for a bicyclist friend should he/she fall. He will also give us tips on how to take care of ourselves should we fall (god forbid). Let’s all thank the doctor for his time and effort in making this session happen. Let’s also thank Rohan (as always) for allowing us to use his facility and arranging a projector where the doctor will show a powerpoint presentation.

Please do show your support for a fellow bicyclist and your for own self by learning from the invaluable knowledge the doctor will impart. The best part, in the true BBC spirit of gaining critical mass for bicycling, this session is being organized for free.

1. What is Bus Day?

It is a daylong event promoting Public Transport in the city of Bengaluru on February 4th, 2010. It is an event calling all the citizens of Bengaluru to use Public Transport on Feb 4th for all their getting about in the city.

2. What is so special about Bus Day?

Bus Day has been suggested by few enthusiastic citizens . The idea behind Bus Day is to observe the changes which can be brought in the city in trying to respect · Environment · Traffic Situation · Health of individuals · Perception

3. What should be done on Bus day?

We should not use our private vehicle for one day. We use public transport, walk a little more, and tolerate waiting time.

4. Who are the people participating in Bus Day?

It is an event for all citizens of Bangalore, as well as for corporations existing in Bangalore. In other words all the individuals, companies, govt organizations, auto rickshaws, BMTC, Bangalore police… and everyone who lives in Bangalore and feels responsible for the enviroment of the city.

5. What is the responsibility of these participants?

Everyone has to either use or help others to use public transport. · As an individual we should not use our cars for the day, and only use public transport. Companies should permit all employees to come to the office by bus; Auto Rickshaws should take (hopefully) fair fare; the Traffic Police should take care of pedestrians on the day.

6. How can “Bus Day” be a success?

Bus Day will be success if we feel that roads are not congested….thatthe air is fresh..that there is less honking… If we can see a change in the traffic around us….if we cannot see the smoke rings around street lights in the night….if we can see winter fog instead of pollution fog …if,in the night sky,we can see the stars clear and bright.

BUS DAY has been planned for Thursday the 4th of February 2010 .On that day we request you to leave your personal vehicles behind and JUST TAKE THE BUS to commute!

1) Survey Link: BMTC requests you to pass this link to their survey on to everyone. It will be great if we can have the responses by sometime next week (earlier the better). An event flier ( timings, schedules and routes etc) will be emailed to the public, after receiving the responses.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGNvOGxYNzdacktOdXpJVFduc1dHVWc6MA

Environment Support Group ®

invites you to a talk on

Changing Ideas of Rights, Wrongs and Public Interest

(Enquiries into Changing Role of State vis a vis sovereignty, eminent domain, impoverishment and the return of the Contract)

On Friday, 27th November 2009
By

Usha Ramanathan

Time: 5.00 pm – 6.30 pm
Venue: Ashirwad, St. Marks Road (Behind Kabab Corner), Bangalore

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‘Save GKVK’ Campaign – Community Protest

Date: 10:00 am – 11:00 am, Sunday, October 11, 2009

Venue: GKVK Main Gate on Bellary Road

Program: Protest against proposed 80 feet link road through GKVK campus

Issue
Proposed construction of a major 80 feet link road through GKVK campus entailing cutting of 3000 trees and destruction of several research plots

Current Status

GKVK has transferred the land to BBMP. BBMP has felled hundreds of trees and has initiated civil works. Court has issued stay order on further felling of trees. Forest department has filed a FIR and is investigating the issue. However, BBMP is still planning to carry on with road work. We have now lost hundreds of trees, but the land still remains. We can atleast regrow the trees and we can prevent a road from running through a green patch and destroying it. If we lose the land, we lose the battle fully and we’ll have a road running through an urban green patch, impacting the rest of the green patch negatively!

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Simple steps to do if you see a tree being cut –
(Pls also read the full preservation of trees act for complete details , I’ve attached it with this email and am also pasting the link below –
http://hasiruusiru.org/joomla/images/stories/pdf/LawsAndPolicies/karnatakapreservationoftreesact.pdf)

Steps
Approach the contractor/workers cutting the tree. Ask them if they have the approval of tree officer, BBMP for cutting the tree.

If they dont have the order
Ask them to stop. Tell the that they are not authorised to cut trees and that they can be arrested for cutting trees without required permission. Please call the relevant tree officer.( Details in latter half of mail.)
Tell them the details – what’s happening and where. Ask her/him to come immediately and get the work stopped. If tree officer does not answer her/his phone, call their office number. If you dont get through to that, call the cops from the police station under whose jurisdiction the said road is located. Alert local residents and try and gather support (this could be counter-productive sometimes, they may want the tree to be cut) . And yes, pls take pics of the trees being cut.

If they have the order
Please have a look at the order and see what it says.
Does it have a BBMP seal? Does the order explicitly state that the full tree needs to be cut? Is it signed by the tree officer? Note – some times the tree officers permit the branches to be cut, but people use that to cut the whole tree. If permission is granted only for cutting branches, only branches can be cut, not the trunk. In case they have what appears to be a order, but the order looks fishy/incomplete, call the tree officer on cellphone/landline and inquire if permission has been granted.

In case they do have the order to cut trees and it looks like they have been granted permission, just double-check with the tree officer anyway. Call the tree officer on cell-phone/landline and speak to her/him confirming if an order has been passed to cut the trees in that location.

If they have the order and it looks like its genuine and the order allows felling of trees
If at the end you realise that the tree officer has granted permission to cut the trees, there is not much you can do at that moment to stop it. Ask the tree officer if trees are being replanted in the same area, to compensate for the trees being cut. If trees are not being replanted in the same area, thats a violation of the act.

Later, you can also file an appeal with the tree authority, BBMP against the
tree officer’s order.

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