BY PRADNYA GAONKAR

People find it more convenient to buy from illegal hawkers… even though they cause traffic problems and eat into the business of legal vendors.

OFFICES HAVE just closed for the day and traffic is at its peak. Everyone is eager to rush home. At the Panaji end of the Mandovi Bridge, two-wheelers squeeze in between four wheelers in the serpentine queue, desperately trying to cross the bridge. Suddenly, a loud screech followed by a bang halts traffic. A motorcycle has crashed into the rear of a car which halted abruptly after its driver stopped to buy fish from a roadside hawker.

This it not a one-off incident, but a common occurrence at the Mandovi Bridge. Interestingly, while hawkers disappear from the scene when Road Transport Office (RTO) officials station themselves at the bridge to fine traffic violators, they also inadvertently cause mishaps as many two wheeler riders stop halfway across the bridge to wear their helmets when they see the police in the distance. However, while the police are merely carrying out their duty, the vendors complain that they are trying to earn a living. But at what cost?

GOA VELHA DIVERSION

THE approach road to the Mandovi Bridge is not only used by motorists but also by vendors selling fish, fruit, helmets and plastic seating. On auspicious occasions, they are joined by flower-sellers. This has created hurdles to the smooth movement of traffic. This illegal sale of goods is not only carried out in Panaji, but throughout the state where illegal vendors have mushroomed on almost all the public routes, bus stands, etc. The newly built Goa Velha diversion has become the same. Along with vehicular traffic, the vegetable and fruit sellers have also diverted their ‘market’ along the new road, making it as congested as the old route!

Hawker encroachment is the ‘illegal encroachment’ of hawkers (lower class vendors who informally sell their wares on streets, pavements, rail coaches etc) into public spaces, causing everything from traffic chaos to spoiling the beauty of public places for which the government has been spending crores of rupees annually. Major cities like Panaji, Mapusa and Margao have been marred by the blotches created along the pavements, roadsides, etc. The issue was brought up by vendors occupying space and infrastructure legally provided by the authorities after paying taxes and other duties asked for while granting license to the legal vendors.

Other than the obvious issue of illegal trade, legal vendors suffer because people find it more convenient to purchase everyday food items from illegal hawkers. “Each one does it to earn their living. But at the same time one should also consider the fact that we spent our hard earned money and struggled to get little space to sell our goods. Consider the daily haftas, tax, garbage collection fee, etc that we have to pay on daily basis. The illegal sale outside the market has hampered our business but we cannot say anything because if we do, we invite trouble for ourselves as there are big hands behind them. We go to Babush with our grievances and get our work done. At the same time, those selling goods along the pavement also go to the same person. We have to compromise if we have to survive here,” says a vegetable seller who was waiting to do her ‘bohni’ at 3 pm inside the newly built Panaji Municipal Market building. Her grievance was against vegetable and fruit sellers sitting on the pavement outside the market complex. These temporary vegetable sellers are allowed to sell their goods in the morning till 11 am. But the time gets extended if questions them or they move on to some other location either at the Panaji Bus Stand or some other pavement along any government office building.

TURF WAR

THE vendors inside the market have been fighting for space since the market building was built. A daily fee of Rs.10 for around one sq m area is paid by the vegetable and fruit sellers. The fee varies according to the area. Initially, only few locals who sold gaunthi vegetables like radish, mushrooms, etc occupied the pavements. But slowly the intrusion of migrants hired by influential people has crept in a feeling of insecurity amongst the locals.

A vendor at the market also shockingly revealed that migrants selling fish on the Panaji bridge apparently collect fish from the tank which the Directorate of Health Services released as a part of the Malaria Eradication programme! This was done at the behest of a local corporator who collected haftas from the hawkers. When asked about this, the fish mongers, answer: “Madam, pet keliye karte hai…”. “The CCP pretends to act against the illegal vendors for sometime but the vendors come back again. There is no strict rule implemented against illegal vendors,” says Surendra Furtado who holds the CCP responsible for being irresponsible and allowing the illegalities to thrive.

The issue is not only about the competition with regard to business. It is also about the inconvenience caused to the general public. Here the question has been raised about the rights of the common man or the pedestrian to public space. The infrastructure created with the help of taxpayer’s money by the authorities is freely handed over to illegal hawkers in return of petty cash by corrupt officials. The hawkers spread all over the town area sore sight as in the case of the Dona Paula jetty where the beautification plan of the CCP appears to be ruined by the stalls set up haphazardly at the entrance.

NATIONAL POLICY

Illegal street vendors WERE discussed at the Centre where a National Policy for Urban Street Vendors was framed by the Government of India in 2004 where provisions like infrastructure and other civic services were made for hawkers on the streets, accompanied by regulations. The inconveniences caused by hawkers on cramped roads and traffic congestion were debated but the debates remain on paper. The actions initiated lasted for just a few days. The proliferation of hawkers is also because of vote banks politics, where the local politician makes provisions to incorporate migrant hawkers in return for votes. This is the reason why one can see major developments in the once slum areas turned into proper residential zones in constituencies like Taleigao.

The situation is similar in Mapusa. Dada Patil, who set up a sugarcane juice maker at Mapusa, explains how the business has dropped with the increase in the number of hawkers recently from other states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who move in the interiors areas. Good business comes during tourist season. Patil takes up a butta (corn) and channa stall during the rainy season. His daily earning is around Rs. 100-150, which again varies according to the crowd. He had moved from a small butta stall at one of the pavements in Calangute to a sugarcane juice stall after being evicted by the authorities there. In Mapusa, he set up his stall by paying monthly fees of Rs. 1500 to the owner of the plot.

The same holds true of other hawkers who they pay some amount to a local land owner and carry out the business. One person in the family initiates the business and later brings in other family members who engage themselves in the same or some other business. The local plot owner does the other ‘formalities’ required, which are not known to the hawkers, doing business in the plot. The watermelon sellers near the Gandhi circle in Mapusa also enjoy thriving business. They have been there for the past 25 years now and pay rent every six months. Though their location is ‘ideal’ to them, it is a hindrance to motorists.

OTHER HINDRANCES

THERE are many such marble tiles makers, cement pot makers, etc who have occupied small plots along highways to carry out their business. What is needed here is the proper management with regard to allotment of plots and infrastructure to these hawkers. The National Policy for Urban Street Vendors 2009 refers to some important points that need to be planned and implemented in places like Goa. But the implementation aspect gets hampered when it reaches the local governing bodies. Each one tries to play vote bank politics through these hawkers. The situation has crept into villages also. Initially there were just the ice cream wallahs and local bhandiwallis. But the local fish and vegetable markets have now been taken over by the wholesale fish and vegetable vendors. The vegetables grown in the local fields are sold in the market. But the markets have now been overtaken by wholesale vegetable sellers who bring in more variety goods with cheaper rates from Belgaum and neighbouring states.

A young hawker who has set up a readymade cloth stall on the pavement at Panaji Municipal Market was frank enough to admit that his business is illegal. His brother started the business by purchasing readymade cloths at wholesale rates from Belgaum and selling them at cheaper rates than the other readymade shops in the Panaji market. He doesn’t have any license or any legal documents with him. His customers are mainly migrants. When asked what he would do if the CCP tried to evict him, he promptly answered “Nikal lenge. 200 rupaiya fine denge, chale jayenge. Phir kahi aur dhanda chalayenge…”