CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: AMC'S CRACKDOWN ON CART VENDORS EXPOSES ADMINISTRATION'S INSENSITIVITY.

Beat the poor, beat the drum for development" - No hawker zones for years, yet action against the poor continues

The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation's anti-encroachment drive against handcart vendors has become yet another example of the administration's lack of sensitivity. 

The carts standing on the roads bother the administration, but they cannot see the livelihood of a poor family that revolves around those cart wheels. It is easy to raid the laborers who sell fruits, vegetables, and small goods to feed their families. But creating alternative arrangements for them seems to be beyond the administration's capacity. This governance has now been reduced to just: "Hit the poor and beat the drum in the name of development."

In the eyes of municipal officials, handcart vendors alone are the root cause of traffic congestion in the city. The city's lack of planning, illegal parking, influential encroachments, unauthorized constructions, and collapsed traffic management all this is swept under the rug. And by removing the carts of the poor, they drum up their own efficiency. This is the new 'formula for development'"Catch the poor and beautify the statistics" has become the administration's favorite game.

The question is: Who gave the moral authority to a municipal corporation that has failed to build even a single proper and equipped Hawkers' Zone for years, to take action against cart vendors? First provide alternative arrangements. Give legal spaces. Give the right to do business. And then talk about rules. But here it is: "First burn down the house, and then give advice on fire safety."

The government has no employment. No industries. No jobs. Youth have no work. In such a situation, when a poor man sets up a handcart with his own hard work, the stick of the law is raised against him. This is not respect for the law, it is an insult to the sweat of the poor. "The administration that lectures those whose hearths burn with smoke about air pollution - who exactly are they working for?"This question can no longer be avoided.

For those whose entire economy is "earn daily, eat daily", seizing their carts means snatching the morsel from their children's plates. One more signature gets added to an officer's file. But has this system retained enough sensitivity to think about how many homes' hearths go cold because of that signature, how many children's school fees get delayed, how many elderly parents' medicine expenses stop?

The bigger tragedy is the silence of those who do politics in the name of the poor. The representatives who go door to door in slums with folded hands during elections, who stand on handcarts and give speeches, who parade as "the guardians of the poor"where have they hidden today? MPs silent. MLAs silent. Ministers silent. Mayor silent. Corporators silent! Tears in the eyes of the poor have no value, but votes in the ballot box do. This has been proven once again.

The Municipal Corporation should honestly tell the citizens: How many Hawkers' Zones have been built so far? How many cart vendors have been given legal space? How many have been rehabilitated? And if there is no satisfactory answer to even one of these questions, then who is being misled by putting up this show of action?

Why do the administration's hands tremble when taking action against big encroachments? Does the edge of the law become blunt while running bulldozers over illegal constructions of influential people? Or are the teeth of the law only meant to be shown to the poor? If people say the administration is like "runs away at the sight of a tiger, but roars at the sight of a goat", what is wrong in that criticism?

It must be remembered that a handcart is not proof of encroachment, it is proof of unemployment. Every handcart is living evidence of the failure of the government's employment policy. Removing those carts will not hide unemployment. It will only highlight the administration's insensitivity even more.

The city should be beautiful. Traffic should be smooth. Rules should be followed. But development can never mean kicking the poor in the stomach. The city's laborers are not enemies of development. They are an important part of the city's economic cycle. A city does not develop by branding them as criminals.

The Municipal Corporation should stop talking about raids and start talking about responsibility. Build Hawkers' Zones, issue legal licenses, rehabilitate vendors, and then enforce the rules. Otherwise, history will one day present such an account of these actions on the poor's livelihood: We don't know if the city developed, but the administration itself extinguished the hearths of the poor. Now the people must decide whether to call this development, or call it "Remove the Poor" instead of "Remove Poverty".

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