Street vendors seek right to continue business

Say govt went back on word after allocating space

RAWALPINDI:

The displaced hawkers have demanded the government to return them the right to continue their business, seized by the cantonment administration nearly two years ago.

The families of some 149 pushcart hawkers are in a severe financial crisis for the past couple of years due to the unambiguous policy of the cantonment administration, said the Hawkers Union President Sardar Munsif.

He reminded that with the formation of the PTI government the cantonment authorities had strated an operation against pushcart vendors. However, the vendors through their representatives convinced the cantonment authorities to regularise them instead of eliminating their livelihood.

Street vendors not encroachments, says commissioner

Subsequently, the administration had allotted sites on Mehfooz Road and other locations to 149 pushcart hawkers against annual charges of Rs30,000. The cantonment administration had even gifted 49 model carts to the hawkers and asked them to get new carts on the same model. The licensed hawkers spent some Rs1.7 million collectively on new carts.

Munsif said that suddenly, the cantonment administration ordered the removal of carts from all locations and seized their right of living.

The union president said that they even invited former Health Minister Amir Mehmood Kiyani on breakfast and briefed him on the matter. The official said that they went to the court too, lamenting that nothing worked for them.

Munsif told that three hawkers named Manzoor Hussain, Muhammad Shaukat, and Muhammad Hasan have died of cardiac arrest as they were anxious about feeding their families. He demanded the government to take notice of the situation and return their right to make an honest living instead of begging for relief.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2020.