They are back!

• Hawkers evicted on Aug. 5 morning
• Back in business on Aug. 5 evening
• Again evicted on Aug. 6 evening

Mysuru: Just a day after being evicted by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), street vendors returned to Sayyaji Rao Road and areas surrounding K.R. Circle, raising questions over the effectiveness of the civic body’s ongoing ‘Operation Footpath.’

As part of the drive, resumed on Aug. 5 following a brief pause, the MCC had cleared footpath encroachments on both sides of Sayyaji Rao Road and near K.R. Circle in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions. The operation was aimed at ensuring safe and hassle-free movement of pedestrians.

However, the vendors were back in business the very next day (Aug. 6) despite being warned by MCC officials to remove their goods from the footpaths.

Sources told Star of Mysore that the vendors allegedly enjoyed political patronage, making the eviction drive difficult to sustain.

Star of Mysore and its sister publication Mysuru Mithra yesterday (Aug. 6) shared videos titled ‘They are back’ on their social media platforms, showing street vendors returning to the locations from where they had been evicted.

Following this, the MCC once again carried out an eviction drive on Sayyaji Rao Road and around K.R. Circle. As of this morning, both Sayyaji Rao Road and K.R. Circle were free    of encroachments.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, Regional Commissioner and MCC Administrator Nitesh Patil said, “It has come to my notice that the street vendors are back at the places from where they were evicted just a day earlier. As Sayyaji Rao Road is one of the most important routes for the Jumboo Savari, it is essential to keep it free of encroachments. I have already instructed the MCC Commissioner to identify an alternative location for the street vendors.”

Patil also said that a meeting would be held at the MCC on Aug. 17 to discuss the issue of street vendors.

As PREDICTED…

In his weekly ‘In Black and White’ column published in Star of Mysore on Saturday, July 18, under the title ‘India is BEAUTIFUL… Indians make it UGLY,’ Managing Editor Vikram Muthanna had expressed doubts over the long-term success of the Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) ‘Operation Footpath.’

He had observed that while the MCC periodically clears footpath encroachments, the street vendors invariably return soon afterwards, with the cycle repeating itself, due to the interference of political leaders and local corporators who openly allow them to occupy the footpaths.

Less than three weeks after that observation, the prediction has come true. The street vendors are back in business and once again the cycle has repeated itself.

Here is an excerpt from the ‘In Black and White’ column  published on July 18.

India’s officialdom has a curious talent. It never solves problems. It merely fixes symptoms. Every few months, footpaths are cleared, flex boards are removed and illegal vendors are evicted.

A few weeks later, everyone is back.

Our Governments perform what doctors would call ‘symptomatic treatment.’ They prescribe painkillers instead of curing the disease. Which is why we will forever remain a ‘developing country,’ never a developed one

‘Developing’ is about making rules and enforcing those rules is what leads to a nation becoming ‘Developed.’ Unfortunately, we have no enforcement. Take the case of our own city, Mysuru.

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has built vendor markets across residential neighbourhoods. A vegetable vendor is allotted a legal stall. Within weeks, another vendor illegally occupies the footpath right outside the same market. But he is  not evicted.

Emboldened by this lack of enforcement by the MCC, five more vendors put up shop. Eventually, even the honest vendor inside the allotted shed shifts outside because that’s where the customers stop.

Soon, the footpath disappears. Pedestrians are forced to walk on the road. Cars stop in the middle of traffic to buy tomatoes. Two-wheelers park wherever they please. Traffic chokes. Then it’s in the news. Then comes another clearance drive. Then we are back… to Chapter One, clearance drive and… the cycle repeats.