Kempegowda Bus Station

the subways

Gandhinagar

By Y Maheswara ReddySimple questions have the power to bring about great changesYou would think that a fight between a pedestrian and a hawker at the Kempe­go­wda Bus Stand in Dece­mber 2018 would go down as one of the routine fights. But unlike other fights, this one over a powerbank had shocking consequences for hawkers at two subways at theThe victim’s friend went to court and two weeks ago the court ordered thatbe cleared off the hawkers. The photos taken on Friday tell the story. Everylast one of the hawkers has been cleared. But more later on why that’s a huge deal.Last year, a software engineer was arguing with a hawker over the price of a powerbank in the bustling and chaotic subways of the Kempegowda Bus station. When the negotiations proved tough, the hawker blew a fuse and grabbed the engineer’s phone and wallet and refused to return them. The victim promptly visited the Upparpet Police Station, a stone’s throw away from the subway, to complain against the hawker. But he was shocked to see his mobile phone and wallet with the sub inspector.Says Ravikumar Kanchanahalli , a friend of the software engineer, “My friend was shocked when the sub-inspector started shouting at him instead of giving him a fair hearing. Though the police inspector returned his mobile phone and wallet, it was not before warning him not to argue with the hawkers in future.’’ Kanchanahalli later filed a public interest litigation in the High Court.When he visited the Upparpet police station to ask why his engineer friend was treated shabbily, Kanchanahalli said that the sub-inspector treated him the same way. “My friend is a software engineer. He didn’t want to escalate the issue because he did not have time. So, I decided to complain to the police and the BBMP authorities against the hawkers,’’ says Kanchanahalli.After filing complaints with the police and the BBMP, he filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court on April 25, 2019, seeking a direction to the police and the BBMP authorities to evict the illegal hawkers from the subways.“The High Court directed the BBMP authorities to evict the illegal hawkers. The BBMP authorities claimed that they had evicted the hawkers on August 16, 2019, and had taken measures to prevent the hawkers from encroaching the subways again,” says Kanchanahalli.This is not just a victory for Kanchanahalli and the software engineer but for several thousands of commuters who travel through the Bus station every day. All these years, many attempts were made to clear the illegal hawkers from the subway. But they had grown deep roots and were sure that no one could evict them. Yes, there were police who would be deputed to the subways on regular beats. Yes, the Upparpet police station was a stone’s throw away from the subway. But nothing prevented the hawkers from behaving like they owned the place. They would encroach the subway, block the pathways of commuters and attack and abuse buyers if they made the mistake of bargaining with them.The hawkers were evicted from the subways when R Ashok was Minister of Transport but they returned with renewed fervour in just a few days. One more attempt was made to evict them when Ramalinga Reddy was the Minister of Transport and it lasted for a few days. They were back soon enough.It is alleged that the area policemen didn’t register the complaints against the hawkers and would let them continue their business after collecting protection money or hafta. Some shopkeepers say that policemen would collect hafta three times a day – morning, noon and evening. The subways were a great source of additional revenue for the policemen and an assured livelihood for hawkers. Shopkeepers say that policeman on duty used to get Rs 4,000 per shift. Each hawker had to pay Rs 20, three times a day. A total of Rs 12,000 was paid by the hawkers as hafta to the policemen per day.Meanwhile, C E Rangaswamy, president,Street Vendors’ Association, has also corroborated that the police have evicted the hawkers on Subedar Chatram Road too. “We have no objection to the police evicting illegal hawkers from the subways. We are mulling legal action against eviction of the authorized street vendors who were issued identity cards by the BBMP,’’ says Rangaswamy.