Hawkers fear cop harassment

HYDERABAD: Hawkers who rule the roads in the Old City in the month of Ramzan are making efforts to raise a united voice against harassment at the hands of authorities.
While hawkers are perceived by shop owners as a major menace since their unorganized and chaotic presence serves to keep away high-end buyers from shopping in Old City markets, the hawkers themselves fear increased harassment by cops who, they say, are ever keen on extracting their pound of flesh during the busy period.
Rough estimates point to the existence of 2,000 hawkers from Charminar bus station to Madina circle, which could swell to 8,000 in the last two weeks of Ramzan. The increase is due to an influx of hawkers and sellers from other areas, who arrive as the shopping season peaks. Hawkers, who are forever at loggerheads with cops and GHMC officials, fear that efforts are on to evict them as their presence is known to have an effect on the business of the shops in the area.
“The kind of sale that we do in Ramzan is not possible during any other time of the year. It is indeed a blessing. The sale of bangles, clothes, dates, fruits, artificial jewellery and trinkets is at an all time high. Many hawkers borrow money to procure as much as twice the amount of goods they normally sell,” said Mohammed Illyas, a cloth vendor who operates from the arches of Pathargatti building. Pointing to the line of stores decked up for the festival, he said that traders are wary of them as the public is lured by the less expensive goods sold by the hawkers. But he thoughtfully added that as both the traders and hawkers are selling for a livelihood, they should be amicably accommodated. Illyas is not aware that guidelines have been framed by the government of India to accommodate hawkers in vending zones.
Though the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors was framed in 2009 by the Union ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, its directives are yet to be implemented in the state.
In a bid to stand up to injustice, the hawkers have formed committees. But only about 620 hawkers and vendors out of the estimated 2,000 from Charminar area could be brought under the aegis of committees or unions.
According to Inayat Ali Baquery, AP state secretary, National Hawker’s Federation, hawkers are forced to bribe police officials to allow them to operate their business in a particular area. “Goods are often seized without panchnama or any other kind of proceedings. If the government were to follow the policy laid down by the central government, then hawkers could be better organized,” he said.
The National Hawker Federation has sent a letter to commissioner of police requesting relaxation of rules in Ramzan.