5 months on, RMC yet to rehabilitate evicted vendors

Ranchi: The fate of several vendors of Morhabadi area continues to hang in balance as the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has failed to rehabilitate them so far. Over 200 vendors were evicted from Morhabadi following a firing on January 28 in which one person died. The incident occurred near the house of the former chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren, also the supremo of the ruling JMM.
The district administration evicted all the vendors from the area claiming law and order issues. Section of vendors thereafter approached the Jharkhand high court seeking justice after which the civic body informed the court that plans were afoot for their rehabilitation at different locations in Morhabadi.
Vendors claimed that only a handful have been rehabilitated, while the rest are left to fend for themselves. President of Morhabadi Dukandar Sangh, Roshan Kumar, said, “A total of 289 vendors were doing business in the area before being evicted, but RMC has rehabilitated only 50 of them which include 25 each near registry office and MTS tower.”
Many said that they are robbed of earning. Shanti Oraon, who used to run a tea stall opposite Astroturf stadium, said: “I have to support a family of four, so, when we didn’t get any place to start our shops, I started work as a domestic help. My elder daughter too is helping me in that.”
Shankar Kumar, another vendor, said: “I too have two children to support but it has been very difficult to run the family now.”
Those vendors who were rehabilitated aren’t happy with the new venue citing loss of revenues due to lack of proper space for setting of stalls.
RMC, on the other hand, claimed that they have rehabilitated 80 vendors. Assistant municipal commissioner Jyoti Kumar said, “We invited applications from vendors on directions of the HC after which 80 were identified to have valid permission from the civic body for doing business. We rehabilitated them in the area.”
Additional municipal commissioner of RMC, Kunwar Singh Pahan, said that the rehabilitation was done on the basis of the data which existed with them dating to 2016. He also said that while most shops have been rehabilitated, a majority of them remain unopened.
“We will remove those to make space for the ones who are functioning. Our team will make a list this week about shops that aren't opening," he said.