B A Samvartha/The Hindu

Mangalore, Mar 25: The space reserved for street vendors in the central market remains empty.

Showing the place reserved for street vendors, through the entrance gate which is locked, Hameed Khandak, general secretary of the Central Market Vegetable and Fruits Merchants’ Association, pointed to the fans fixed on the wall, which are covered with dust and cob-webs. He said: “Around a hundred of them can be accommodated here but they do not enter the market. There is no need for them to pay any rent. Space is being provided to them free of cost, yet they refuse to come in.”

Mr. Khandak, however, said that the space had been reserved for women street vendors only. This had been a provision made purely on “human grounds”, even as they were all running their businesses without licence.

An elderly woman, who sells vegetables outside the Central Market, told The Hindu that she had no clue about free space being provided to them inside the market. A woman selling fruits there said that the police used to ask them to vacate the footpaths but without telling them where to go. She too had no clue about the space reserved for them inside the market.

A fruit vendor, on the condition of anonymity, asked why the provision was made only for women inside the central market. “Why should they discriminate between men and women in providing place inside the market? Poverty is common to both.”

Vendors such as Md. Abboobakar are ready to move into the building if they were to be provided space in the centre and not in the periphery, with proper facilities.

National policy

Although the national policy on urban street vendors mentions a list of facilities, including electricity, well-maintained toilets, storage facility, and drinking water, to be provided in markets constructed for vendors, most of them are missing. There are no facilities even for the shopkeepers, who pay rent in the central market, said Mr. Khandak. “How can the street vendors expect facilities, when they are given the space inside the market free of cost?” he asked.

Praveenchandra Karkera, assistant revenue officer, Mangalore City Corporation, told The Hindu that all the street vendors would be moved into the market soon.