Return
French
SpanishCollective
Bargaining:
Strategies
and tools adopted in SEWA for Street vendors
Manali
Shah, SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) India
Collective
bargaining in terms of formal sector can be defined as: Collective
bargaining is "a process of negotiation between management and union
representatives for the purpose of arriving at mutually acceptable wages
and working conditions for employees" .
Collective bargaining in the informal sector has a very broad
meaning- while negotiating for street vendors we have to negotiate with
ILO, WSF, WTO at the international level, Central Ministry of Labour
Department and Urban development and Poverty Alleviation at the National
Level and at Local level State level Ministry of Urban Development and
Poverty Alleviation, municipal corporation, traffic police, shop keepers
or residents and even lobby with the customers. The customers also play
an important role in negotiations. In the current age, of world class
cities, the customers are of different kinds and they come from different
walks of life. Some are intelligent and from upper level, some come from
the middle class. The vendors need to have good relationship with the
customers which can later on come handy while negotiating with Municipal
Corporation.
|
For e.g. Over than 300
vendor members vend in the natural market of Gridharnagar to Ghevar
Complex road since last 25 to 30 years. The Estate Department of
the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation harassed these vendors by not
allowing these vendors to vend there. Since last 10 days, every
single day the trucks and officials of the Estate Department would
come evict and confiscate and destroy the goods of the vendor
members. SEWA tried its best to negotiate with Municipal
Commissioner to allow them to sit and vend but it fell the deaf
years. When ever we approached SEWA we were always told by AMC that
they have received complains against vendors from nearby shops.
SEWA had to change its negotiating techniques. The residents of
that area who purchasing fruits and vegetables from the vendors
since long were highly supportive to the vendors. SEWA thought of
exploiting this goodwill. SEWA started a letter campaign wherein
the residents of that area wrote the letters to the Muni
commissioner as to why they want the vendors and that they support
the vendors. |
Thus Collective bargaining in informal sector is trade specific
and can be defined for the particular trade.
Though the biggest challenge in front of Indian workers in the
informal sector is that there are very few trade unions representing them
and which can practice collective bargaining effectively. In fact all
over the world there are very few statutory bargaining forums for the
informal sector. And thus informal sector unions like SEWA have to create
its own strategies and tools to practice collective bargaining at
different levels, which have been learnt through experiences and trial
and error method. SEWA, as it believes in Gandhian philosophy believes that where
there are no laws or legislations for the informal sector workers,
collective bargaining is the best strategy adopted to work out the
problems faced by them
|
Gandhiji
believed that trade unions should be internally used for the
reformation of workers as good citizens as also for defense against
assaults from outside. And he believed that collective bargaining
is like a moral institution for the improvement of the ethical
behaviour, upholding the dignity of labour. And he also believed
that sitting on one table, by the labourers and the employers,
could solve all the issues of labour effectively. |
Some of the tools
adopted by SEWA while carrying out collective bargaining for the street
vendors are explained below:
Negotiations:
For the street vendors, negotiations are done with, Police,
Corporation, Residents, shopkeepers among the members and others. It is
our first try to complete the issue through negotiation, that is SEWA
leaders, organizers, area leaders and members, go to present the case of
street vendors, explain the situation to the concerned party, gives room
for hearing the case from the concern party and also listens to the
street vendors side of the story and then tries to find a middle way to
it, which is best suited to both the groups.
|
For
example : Jamalpur area-More than 1,000 street vendors sit on the
stretch of the main road that leads to the bus terminal for the
state transport. Naturally, this is a very busy road with lots of
traffic through out the day. Traffic Police and Corporation were
very against the street vendors to sit there and vend, and used to
evacuate them now and then. Also, after riots in the city, many new
street vendors from different parts of the city had started to come
and vend on the lorries on the same toad, blocking the road even
more and making the traffic police angry all the more.
And one fine day, they were all removed from that place and
security AMC was put so that no body can sit on that stretch to
vend. SEWA
leaders thus started to negotiate with the traffic police and the
corporation officials and shopkeepers to not be strong and to allow
the vendors earn their daily bread. After various rounds of
meetings and negotiations Municipal Commissioner agreed to listen
to the vendors’ side and asked SEWA to find out a way in which it
can manage the street vendors on that road, such that traffic as
well as street vendors both are managed. Thus through market
committee, where street vendors, traffic officials and shop keepers
were part of it, this was made possible, while the members were
continuously trained to be self disciplined and take care that no
second line is made, which would block the road and hurdle the
traffic. But the market committee was not successful. Therefore
SEWA conducted a survey to seen how
many vendors sit their and vend for what timings. In the findings
it came out that 911 vendors vend their in three shifts. As a part
of this negotiation with AMC a trust was constituted that that will
look that the vendors are sitting in one row systematically and the
congestion is not created on the roads. AMC agreed to this proposal
and the trust was formed. All the vendors of the Jamalpur area
would become the members of the trust by paying Rs 100/-per month.
The trust would appoint the security guards from the fund thus
collected to see that the vendors do not cross the earmarked space
and sit in one row without obstruction to the traffic. And incase
they cross the space then a penalty of Rs 350/- is charged. The
penalty fund thus collected is used for the welfare of the vendors.
Just now six securities are placed in the Jamalpur area and
the charity commissioner had registered the trust. The Vendor
leaders of the Jamalupur area run the trust. AMC, traffic police
and the Vendor members are happy with this arrangement of the
vendors. But
the municipal corporation all of a sudden constructed 300 vending
spaces and wanted to shift the vendors there. The applications
received for the 300 vending space were 1911. Also according to
over survey there were 911 vendors and platforms where only 300
where would three hundred vendors go. The vending spaces were to be
allotted through the Computer draw. If this type of allotment of
vending space through computer draw were allowed then grave
injustice would be done to the vendors who are really vend there
and do not get the vending space. It was also see that many
applications were received from the anti social elements. Also the
vending spaces were not properly constructed. SEWA continuously
held meetings with the Municipal commissioner to stop this draw and
to develop the new system for allotment of the vending space. Made
several representations to the Municipal and State authorities to
stop this draw. A case was also filed. The allotment was scheduled
for next day 10 in the morning and we were successful to stop the
allotment at 12 in the night. At 12.00 in the night the municipal
commissioner relented and the draw was cancelled. The problem of
the Jamalpur area is also be included in the petition filed in the
High Court. |
SEWA tries to bring
about a solution, which is in favor of the members, but at times when the
street vendors need to improvise the mannerisms and then SEWA leaders do
guide them for the same. This is but a very time consuming tool, which
requires building up a rapport and a lot of patience to deal with the
situation.
Lobbying and
advocacy: This is another very
important tool adopted by SEWA for collective bargaining. This is adopted
again at various levels to bring pressures to resolve the issue in favour
of street vendors. SEWA is associated with informal sector workers from
such a long time and therefore has built up a rapport at Local, State and
Central level, which enables it to try out various alternatives and work
out the best option for the workers. For example, When National Policy
had to be formed, SEWA was lobbying at the National level with various
government officials, so that they understand the issue of street vendors
and accept the proposal for the Policy for the street vendors. At this
point of time it was felt by SEWA that the vendors in other parts of the
country also faced the similar problems and all the unions were fighting
for the same cause individually. If they fought collectively then it
would make a great impact at the central level. That is why SEWA
initiated a net work of vendors’ organizations called NASVI. Thus
through NASVI a collective demand to form Policy for the street vendors
of India was put forward, which was accepted after lots of advocacy with
the concerned departments. Now we have the National Policy for street
vendors... State of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh had already adopted the
National policy of street vendors and formed the Sate policy and
earmarked the vending Zone and while I was leaving for Senegal, I just
heard the great news that State of Uttar Pradesh has also enacted the
state policy based on the National Policy for Street Vendors.
SEWA struggles to
implement the Sate policy based on National Policy for Street vendors in
Gujarat. For this SEWA adopted different of strategies.
Firstly SEWA
lobbied with the Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Poverty
Alleviation department, State of Gujarat. The Principal Secretary was
quite positive. He sat with SEWA and drafted the State policy. But then
due too change of Government, the Principal Secretary was shifted to
other department. The New principal secretary was not so co-operative.
The state policy is already drafted and pending for signature, the new
secretary despite of SEWA’s vigorous struggle
refuses to put his signature.
SEWA then tried a
different angle, When the central Minister of Urban Development and
Poverty Alleviation approached SEWA, we lobbied with her, Had a public
hearing in the New Delhi and lobbied with the minister to issue circular
to all State level Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Departments
to adopt the National Policy in their states.
We also lobbied
with the AMC and a scheme was framed and Rs 2hundred millions were
allotted for the vendors. A committee was constituted by the AMC in which
SEWA was also a member. But this committee did not work due to high
political pressure.
And as the last
part of our Strategy we filed Public Interest Litigation, in which we
were quite successful.
|
SEWA
filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in the High Court of
Gujarat on behalf of its members, seeking 1.
To set right the injustice being done to them and 2.
To stop, for once and for all, the constant violation of
their rights-fundamental, constitutional and legal. 3.
To ensure that the national policy of street vendors,
created in 2004, is implemented by the Gujarat state government and
4.
To see that the AMC exercises its power to grant licenses in
favor of the street vendors. 5.
To setup town vending committees 6.
To refrain AMC from forcibly evicting street vendors 7.
To avoid eviction unless urgently needed 8.
To involve affected vendors in planning and implementation 9.
To declare natural markets as vending zones 10.
To make changes in Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Development
Mission keeping in mind the street vendors And
on the day of hearing, when the whole court room was jam packed
with the street vendors from all the areas of the city, Judge asked
all the counsels if they agreed that this was an issue were both
parties needed to sit down and talk; they all agreed. He then
stated that, in the mean time, the vendors should be left alone.
There was a moment of stunned silence in the court room. Then,
advocate of the AMC protested, citing the large number of vendors
in the city (46000) and saying that it was impossible to let them
sit where they wanted. But the judge’s response was final as he
waved a hand and cut off advocate of respondent mid speech. “N-O.
No No-one shall
be disturbed.” The
Judgment was unprecedented in that it was a blanket stay order-it
applied to all the areas. No longer did SEWA have to fight areas by
areas; the High Court of Gujarat had judged that, pending a
mutually satisfactory compromise between the parties, all the
vendors were not be disturbed. |
Thus, lobbying and advocacy at times is done from Bottom to top level and sometimes from Top to Bottom level.
Dissemination of
information through rallies/ leaflets/ videos/ memorandums/ mass meetings
: This is another and very
effective way of collective bargaining adopted by SEWA. Rallies, Mass
meetings, dharnas are some of the tools which put a great impact
on the opposite party for negotiation, and also maintain the Gandhian
values adopted by SEWA. They give a very clear picture of the collective
strength of the informal sector to the other party.
|
Last year, the
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation was very unfair to the street
vendors and was harassing them a lot by not letting them sit and
vend peacefully. It was Diwali
- new year Indian festival time, one of the peak seasons for Street
vendors to earn. After much persuasion when the Corporation
officials refused to support the vendors, it was decided by the
leaders of the street vendors in SEWA that leaflets should be
distributed among the citizens as well as leaflets should be stuck
on each and every wall of the corporation, such that public vote
can be gather like this. And surely the impact of this
dissemination of information served as boon for street vendors,
wherein they through the support of the citizens as well as
politicians, could vend properly. |
Market studies:
Sometimes what cannot be communicated verbally, the data speaks well and
describes well. And therefore, market studies are very important and it
plays a very vital role while collective bargaining is done at any level.
Therefore, when
SEWA had started to negotiate with the Department of Urban Development
and Poverty Alleviation in Gujarat to adopt the National Policy here, a
detailed market study was conducted. This study provided data like how
many markets are there in Ahmedabad city, how many vendors are dependent
on this work, what is their contribution in the daily economy of the
city, which are the Natural markets, Complete mapping of the vendors as
to where they sit, how they sit and what they vend was done. This study
document proved to be a very clear and precise information provider that
helped while negotiating for the street vendors with Municipalities and
Governmental departments.
For doing such
types of surveys and studies SEWA takes the Help of the technical person.
For e.g. to make a study on the natural market SEWA took help of the
students of Centre for Environment Planning and Technology.
Legal Cases:
In India there are no laws at all and if there are laws they are
very obsolete and can hardly solve the issues faced by the street vendors
these days. Therefore the struggle goes on forever. For this SEWA files
two types of cases.
If it is involving
the large number of people and livelihood of the large number of vendors
is at skate and the matter requires the policy change then the case is
filed by SEWA is the higher courts of Law. E.g. PIL mentioned above.
SEWA also files
small cases in the lower authority for individuals and if the issue is
for particular area for e.g.
|
Metropolitan
case SEWA
has obtain the order from the Supreme Court and High Court for 500
vendors of five areas of Ahmedabad city stating they have a right
to vend in this areas and cannot be evicted. The Metropolitan Judge
refuses to consider this order and charged a fine amounting to Rs.
100/- per complaint Mostly summons issued on the vendors are in a
mechanical manner in the sense that police knows name of the vendor
once and then issues summons without going
to the vending space
to see whether the vendor is causing any obstruction.SEWA tried to
intervene the problem. But the Judge refused to hear the
explanations of SEWA saying that we do not have any locus standi.
In fact according to High Court and Supreme Court order SEWA has
every right to represent the vendor members in the court of law.
SEWA filed the exemption application from appearing in the court
before the metropolitan Judge. The case is pending before the
metropolitan court.As the case involves a complicated law point the
judge refuses to hear the case. On every hearing the SEWA”S
counsel and the vendor members as well as SEWA’s organizer
remains present but the judge refuses to hear the case and gives
date. |
The cases done for
the street vendors in past by SEWA on behalf of street vendors prove a
very strong base for collective bargaining. Whenever street vendor/
vendors in SEWA bring a complaint, it is registered in the Legal Cell of
SEWA and the leaders try to resolve the issue through primary
negotiations with both the parties. But when negotiations do not work at
all, Leaders decide to file a case in the court and SEWA assists them in
the process. Moreover, the High Court of India in its order has allowed
SEWA to represent street vendors in any court. Generally the small,
scattered cases are beneficial to large number of street vendors. And
these scattered or small cases have formed a background for Public
Litigation in High Court of Gujarat for implementation of National Policy
for street vendors in Gujarat.
Again, while
negotiating for the adoption of National Policy in Gujarat, such cases
form a background for further discussion and argument. It also forms a
source of learning, which helps while practicing collective bargaining.
Legal cases are helpful to the street vendors in two ways, one that specific case can be used for many vendors and two a case that involves large number of street vendors or more areas where they vend. For example the Public Interest Litigation filed on behalf of street vendors by SEWA.
|
At
times SEWA has to change its strategies all together. For example
even though the High Court has issued an order regarding not
disturbing the street vendors and let them vend peacefully, the AMC
is trying its best to harass the street vendors. Irrespective of
this order the eviction continues and now more frequently, though
in the Bombay Police Act it is clearly mentioned that the
confiscated perishable items should be returned back to the owner
immediately, it so happens that after confiscation the Godown
officer is either not present at the Godown or else the forms are
not made available to us. Sometimes in the name of “Gaurav
Path” – wider and better roads with foot path for pedestrians,
parking spaces, sitting arrangement at interval for people or
“Nirmal Gujarat” – beautiful, clean and contemporary Gujarat
or “Megacity” or The Chief Minister of Gujarat the Street
vendors are harassed the most. As
a result of which SEWA has to work in its full capacity to struggle
to provide justice to the members. Thus it is always not possible
to struggle at all the fronts at a time by SEWA also. As the times
are changing the issues of vendors are also changing as so are the
parties against which SEWA has to struggle. Moreover it could be a
strategy of AMC to keep SEWA occupied in such matters and instigate
SEWA to take reactive steps, which can sever as evidences against
SEWA. And so
|
The
vendor women members of SEWA had saved their right to live and carry on
business. There were tears in the eyes of many and smiles on the faces of
all. The prayers of 46,000 street vendors had been answered.
F.
National/international networks: These
networks in past have been very effective for collective bargaining.
Through international networks it is possible to bring about pressure to
resolve the issues of the street vendors, which are nation specific or
which concern the vendors all around the world. For example: since the
Commonwealth Games are coming up in New Delhi in the year 2010, all the
street vendors are being evacuated from there in the name of security.
Now there is need to lobby for these street vendors at the international
level, which is only possible through international collective bargaining
through an international network like Street Net International. Similarly
World bank and WTO are providing funds and inputs for building roads,
over bridges, bus stands etc. But poor vendors are not considered in the
process. Their livelihood is at stake. At such a time the international
nets works like ILO, ITUC etc are helpful in taking the issues of the
vendors forward.
G. Social Dialogue with Authorities to provide insights to the issues: As a tool many a time’s officials from various departments are invited to SEWA to provide them insight about the issues of informal sector workers. In past SEWA has invited Mayor of the city and other Corporation officials to visit SEWA so that they understand the street vendors and become sensitive to their issues also. At times they are also invited to educate street vendors in the Workers’ Education Classes, Legal trainings and other trainings carried out in SEWA Again officials from labour department are also called upon to provide information to the street vendors regarding Identity Cards and Social Security, which are applicable to all workers of informal sector including the street vendors.
Thus SEWA has to
keep on changing its strategies according to the issues and problems. For
e.g. in the Manek Chowk case, the Supreme Court suggested us to shift all
the vendors to the terrace of the fruit market. But as the part of the
strategy we agreed but made
the counter condition that the infrastructure like lift, bigger stair
case, electricity, toilets drinking and washing water facilities, storage
and shade should be provide. It was a part of the strategy to make the
good will. And this strategy formed the foundation for us for current
Manek Chowk plan mentioned below.
Currently SEWA also
had to change its strategy, for e.g. we are going in for the mega city,
bigger malls, streets, over bridges, and contemporary Ahmedabad. Over
slogan “Two Baskets worth of Place would not hold in these days of
India Rising instead now we will have adopt a slogan emphasizing on
livelihood.
We will have to
also change over reactive strategy. We will now have to form a new
strategy of lobbying with AMC only for Implementation of National policy.
The issues of eviction and confiscation of goods will be dealt by the
leaders of that area by Developing market committees and taking help
Corporator and residents and customers.
|
Our new
strategy for solving vendor problems is as follows… In spite of the Order made by the Gujarat High Court, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation especially the Central Zone is not at all regarding it. Currently the vendors face the
following problems: The
eviction vans keep roaming in the areas continuously, without any
“Panchnamas” they take away the vegetables, fruits and other
equipments of vending. Also it is mentioned in Clause 273 of the
BMPC Act that the captured perishable items have to be immediately
given back to the owner. But when we go to the godowns
for this they do not have forms for it and after much effort when
we go back to the godowns
it is evening and the godown is closed and by next day the items
are of no use at all. Also only partial amount of captured items
are deposited in the godowns, the remaining is disbursed among the officials,
there is lack of communication from higher to lower authorities in
Municipal Corporation, as per the Nirmal Gujarat and Megacity plans
the vendors do not look good on the main roads and impede the
beautification of the city, therefore an approach ha been adopted
to evict all vendors from the main roads. Certain roads in the city
are declared under “Gaurav Paths”, which are like “Drawing
rooms” to the Municipal Corporation. And the poor people do not
look good in posh drawing rooms; therefore they should not be
sitting on those roads. There should not be a single vendor on the
way of Chief Minister’s road to Airport, because it is the matter
of shame for the officers of that zone.
As per the Megacity drive the roads in the city are
expanding and bridges are being constructed and thus the vendors
sitting on the sides of these roads have to vacate the place till
the time the bridge or the road is completed. Or else they either
have to shut down their business for the time being or have to sit
on one side of the road or on the cross roads. And while doing this
if they go on the other side of the road and if there are
residences on that side then they do not let them sit there and
vend otherwise if there are shops then the shopkeepers do not allow
them. In any situations the street vendors have to face hardships
and have to struggle at each point. And if they stand on the cross
roads then the rickshaw walas standing there do not allow them to stand there and
there also the vendors have to struggle. As a result of which the
traffic jams happen and then the vendors are blamed and they again
have to struggle with the traffic police. The
result of all this is that the existing natural market from years
breaks down and the vendor’s income reduces and their business
completely stops. In the natural market all types of vendors like
vegetable, fruit, cutlery, eatables sit there and that is how they
can attract more customers. This is like a traditional “Mall”
for the poor self-employed people. The only difference is that they
do not have any fixed structure or shop. Its like a common
traditional natural market, which if broken no longer attracts the
customers and as a result of which the incomes of the vendors
reduce drastically. Struggle with different
Stakeholders: Usually
we come in direct struggle with the residents, Police (Khakhi and
Traffic), Godown officials, Eviction officers, Municipal
Corporation, and other higher ups. And we have to deal with all of
them together which are but obviously very tiring and difficult.
Thus the situation is like “fire fighting” and full of struggle
and we become reactive. End Result we can not work in depth with
members, leaders and committees. Municipal corporation strikes on
the quality of the fruits also. For example, they blame vendors to
be injecting saccharine in it and therefore do not allow them to
vend as it affects the health of the citizens and invariably
Municipal corporations complain is that vendors do not maintain
cleanliness. SEWA Strategy: The
issues of the vendors have not remained as they have been before
like the harassment of the Today the issues are of various types,
at various levels and even the parties have changed. Government has
started working on Mega city, Nirmal Gujarat, Clean Gujarat and is
trying to bring about developing changes in the city, but all these
efforts are done without any participation of poor workers or
keeping in mind these citizens. Government
is seeking foreign funds which are only possible if they
“beautify” the city. Therefore the vendors are pushed off, hit
hard and their items are crushed or captured. And where ever this
is happening SEWA is trying hard to stop it……. moreover now eve
the residents have also come against the vendors. That means the
list is increasing Police (Khakhi / Traffic), Municipal
Corporation, Residents, Anti-social elements and so on. And they
all know that every little thing that will happen and “SEWA”
will be there to stop it. Till now SEWA has been at the receiving
end…. this has to changed. Local Strategy: Members
of Vendors should be given in-depth information about SEWA and
training of SEWA’s values. And they should learn to imbibe these
values in their business also. These
days this jargon “Gaurav Path” is much heard. “Gaurav Path”
means Prideful path- but for corporation it means “evict all”.
Therefore we have to make an indepth study
many citizens apart from vendors are unemployed because of
this path All these years we have been saying slogan of “Two
baskets” for our vendor members but now that we are changing the
strategy and the situation too has changed so much there is need to
change the slogan also. Now our slogan will be something regarding
employment and how the poor vendors try to earn honestly by working
so hard. Most important all the markets should form Market
committees, and the rules and regulations of the committees should
be decided and the members of the market committee should decide
its implementation mechanism according to the values of SEWA. It is
important that the leaders are so strengthened that small issues
can be focused to them and they can deal with the situations
themselves. Special trainings regarding the cleanliness and its
effect on the business of the vendors should be explained to the
members. Tests should be done to quality check the vegetables,
fruits and other eatables. The market committee should regularly
work in coordination with local corporators, residents, Police, AMC,
zonal offices and should try to sort out the problems. To manage
cleanliness in the markets, SEWA’s
cleaner members should be linked with them. Campaign should be
started to get change the opinion of local residents,
customers, shop keepers, corporators keeping in focus that they can
approach the Municipal Commissioner as well as Chief
Minister.Linkages with shop # 40 of SEWA should be strengthened.
Such that items, which are cheaper priced, are made available to
the members, schemes like free transportations and other free
schemes should be included here. Legal
Strategies: SEWA
was very reactive and has immediately intervened when the Central
zone issue happened. We should not do so again. Municipal
Corporation might be using this
strategy to instigate us to react and use this evidence
against us in the court. This really can damage our case. We should
consult our lawyer and prepare the list of fruits vegetables taken
by authorities and present it to court. Details regarding eviction
of items without “Panchnamas”, condition of the items that were
confiscated and the other atrocities of the Municipal Corporation
should be taken down. And use these details as evidences in court
against Municipal Corporation. Otherwise High Court can also say
that why did we not come to the Court when all this was happening,
why were we applying so desperately in the corporation. Most
importantly we should now deal with the Corporation keeping in mind
National Policy. We have always been very reactive and our role has
been that of “Fire Fighting”, as a result, of which we have not
been able to work on the implementation of the National Policy. But
now onwards we have to work harder on National Policy.. Using
the Press: We should utlize the media by advertise and write an article in newspapers that SEWA is giving training for the cleanliness campaign. Also After the leaders in each area have strengthened their relations with the local Corporators, residents etc, a delegation of 10 people which will include media, corporators, SEWA’s representatives, vendors and others from each ward should visit the Municipal Commissioner to explain the situation of their area. And should also bring to his notice in this manner that the High Courts Directives are not adapted and Corporation bye laws are not regarded at all. The Participatory approach as mentioned in the National Policy is not implemented. Suming
up: National
Policy should be focused and SEWA should work harder on formation
as well as implementation of the City Policy. SEWA should be play
the passive role in
the field for at least 4 months. The grass root, campaign team and
market committees should be strengthened and the surveys of the
market and situation there should be done through them.As per the
Courts Directives, special team of planners should be kept to
design market plans in partnership with vendors. The ready plans
should be discussed with Police (Traffic/ Khakhi), officials of AMC
and other relevant departments and then the plans should be
submitted to the Court. Evidences against Corporation should be
collected. High Court should be informed regarding the atrocities
of the Corporation on the members. Market Committees should be
formed and strengthen in each market. Slogan should be changed. In
depth study regarding the unemployed should be carried out by
professional institutions in
all the areas where new roads or bridges are coming up At the local
level cleanliness campaign among the members should be taken up
seriously and quality check of the items of the vendors should be
done regularly. Relations with Local Corporators should be
strengthened. Timely use of press should be done. |
According to the
new Phase, SEWA takes help of Post graduate students and the school of
Planning now and then to initiate an alternative plan for sitting
arrangements of these street vendors such that they are able to vend
peacefully as well as do not cause any hindrance to any body. During the
planning it is also kept in mind that maximum number of street vendors
can take advantage of the same as well as all the space is completely and
properly used. In the first phase Manek Chowk is included.
|
Schematic
plan for Manek Chowk Area: Manek
Chowk in the heart of Ahmedabad Old City is one of the liveliest
areas., it accommodates hundreds of different activities and
supports livelihood of more than 1000 people. Not all of these
activities happen in formal shops but there are number of people
who are earning their breads in this area by doing various
activities to compliment this market activities e.g. water fetching
for shops, cleaning of shop fronts, tea stalls and so on. The
vegetable vendor sitting here has seen through many changes and
developments in this area as they are sitting here from generations
now. Majority of these
vendors buy their vegetables from other wholesale market in
Jamalpur, they get their customers from here. Due
to heavy traffic, extension by shopkeepers, unorganized parking, as
well as irregular vending activities, the area is quite chaotic and
congested through out the day. Though it is only in the night when
most activities are subdued, one realizes the vast space of the
street. Some
of the Problems here are: ·
The
traffic moves on two sub-streets created due to existing buildings
and though both of them are dedicated to vehicular traffic, it is
confusing how the traffic actually moves and gets trapped in
bottlenecks created by the building spaces and other activities.
|
At present
such efforts are going on for 9 different and most crowded areas in the
city by SEWA and the Town planner from CEPT. These plans will then be
discussed at length with the Town planners in Municipal Corporation of
Ahmedabad city, officers of Traffic and regular Police and other officers
so concerned. Their suggestions and comments will be welcomed and
accordingly changes in plan will be done keeping in mind the benefit of
the street vendors.
Similarly, in
accordance to the National Policy, the Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad
city has also allotted 8 plots as alternative space for street vendors,
where in they have to be shifted. And plans for placing these street
vendors are also prepared simultaneously, to be approved from AMC.
Again the approach
adopted by SEWA while planning proper sitting arrangements for the street
vendors is through integrated services like proper place for clean
drinking water, water facility for other usages, proper sanitation,
storage place etc. which can enable the street vendors to access the
basic amenities.
Currently we have
negotiated with the Estate and City Improvement officer who agreed to the
plan. We also had a discussion with the lawyer of the respondents’
regarding the issues of Gaurav path, eviction and confiscation of the
wares, and Schematic plan of Manek Chowk.
The Lawyer of the
Respondent showed a positive approach towards the problem and told us to
file the Civil Application in Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat regarding
Schematic plan of Manekchok. He also assured us that he will support the
Civil Application.
Currently the Civil Application for Schematic plan of Manek Chowk is filed and waiting for hearing….