The Aam Aadmi Party has strongly objected to the BJP’s LG making hundreds of vendors jobless who have been running their livelihood by setting up kiosks for years in Barapullah area of Jangpura assembly.
Senior AAP leader Kuldeep Kumar said about 400 hawkers were self-employed by taking loans from the PM Nidhi Yojana, but at the behest of the BJP, the LG snatched their livelihood. He said about 400 of them were running their kiosks for 30-40 years. The rule of town vending says that if a vendor has a license, then no one has the right to remove him untill rehabilitation.
Jangpura MLA Praveen Kumar asked LG that why he is snatching away the livelihood of self-employed people when unemployment has wreaked havoc in the country. The BJP should also explain that if the employment of vendors has been snatched away, will the central government waive off their loans like Ambani-Adani?, he asked.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders and MLAs Kuldeep Kumar and Praveen Kumar held a joint press conference on Tuesday at the party headquarters on the issue of removal of vendors from Barapullah. Kuldeep Kumar said that the BJP is constantly working to harass the people of Delhi through the LG in some way or the other. Whether it is stopping the medicines of Mohalla Clinic or giving free hand to the officials of Delhi, LG adopts all the tricks to harass the people of Delhi.
On August 4, the Lieutenant Governor during his visit to Jangpura Assembly snatched the employment of about 400 street vendors near Barapullah. These people were feeding their families by putting up their carts here for about 30-40 years, but on the order of LG sir, MCD and other departments demolished all the street vendors from there, he said.
Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar stated, “The rules of the Town Vending Committee are that if a vendor has a license of the Town Vending Committee, then no one has the right to remove him. But on the orders of the Lieutenant Governor, all the rules and laws were ignored and those hawkers were made homeless from their shops. Ever since the LG has been in this position, he has only done the work of snatching people’s jobs.”
“Sometimes he (LG) removes people working for women in DCW, sometimes he removes fellows from Vidhan Sabha and sometimes he removes cleaning labour from Jal Board. After doing all this, LG has now snatched the jobs of those hawkers who were feeding their families by running these carts for 40 years. This is a matter of great sadness,” he said.
Kuldeep Kumar said that during the elections, these people were gathered and taken to PM Modi’s rally. But ever since the elections are over, these people have become illegal. The MPs whom these people voted for and made them win, are also missing. Today, those MPs are also working with LG to destroy them.
“BJP and LG will be cursed by their families, they are snatching their means of livelihood from them. The government has given them loans under the PMSVANidhi or PM Nidhi Yojana, but if they do not have employment, how will they repay the loan? We strongly condemn this move of LG sir. MCD should get their hawkers installed there again,” the Kondli MLA demanded.
At the same time, Jungpura MLA Praveen Kumar said that on Sunday, LG of Delhi came to visit the Barapullah bridge. Pointing his finger like a dictator, he ordered the department to remove the poor hawkers sitting there on the spot. The Lieutenant Governor also said that within 24 hours, all these people should be picked up and thrown away from here, he wants this entire place empty. “On one hand, the BJP claims sympathy for the poor. Does it have sympathy for the poor in this way? Only on the instructions of the BJP and the order of LG sir, all those 400 hawkers in Barapullah who were making a living by putting up their hawkers have been picked up and thrown away.”
MLA Praveen Kumar said that the Supreme Court has clearly stated in its order dated 9th September 2013 that unless these vendors are given some other place and the Town Vending Committee does not rehabilitate them, they cannot be removed.
“Apart from this, it is clearly written in the ‘Street Vendors Protection Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending Act 2014’ published in the gazette of the Central Government itself that until the Town Vending Committee surveys all the vendors and if a vendor has got a certificate from the committee, he cannot be removed from there until he is given some other place. But despite this, LG sir is roaming around with his own constitution. LG sir threw out those street vendors from there by keeping all the rules and laws aside,” he stated.
Praveen Kumar said that all these vendors have all the documents. The survey report of the Town Vending Committee shows that their survey has been done. The MCD has confirmed that these people have been putting up their carts here for many years. Everyone has old documents. This is proof that even the MCD has notified them. They cannot be removed from there without rehabilitating them.
“Despite this, LG sir has thrown them out with the support of BJP. Whereas all these vendors have also taken loans under PM Nidhi Yojana. Government of India has also given them loans under its scheme. Before passing this loan, all their papers were verified. Even after getting this loan, they were removed from here. We strongly condemn this kind of anarchy in the rule of the BJP and LG,” he added.
MLA Jungpura said that on one hand when there is so much unemployment in the country and the BJP government at the centre is not able to give employment to anyone, in such a situation, the LG snatched away the source of livelihood of these vendors who were doing self-employment.
“Now, when their livelihood is no longer there, will the BJP waive their loans like that of Adani? Can the BJP guarantee that their goons will not come to their house to collect money? It promises to help the poor during elections but right after the elections, everything turns out to be a ‘jumla’ (rhetoric). The BJP uses these poor people only to garner votes,” he asserted.
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