BBMP officials confiscated goods sold by street sellers on Church Street on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When civic officials came armed with an empty truck to confiscate the goods sold on Wednesday by street sellers on Church Street, most sellers were running their goods. However, the officials seized the goods of three retailers and threw them into a truck and were about to leave, as it was many times. But Wednesday was different. The street sellers organized an improvised protest.
SWAMI Gowda, who sold caps and socks on the sidewalk, said that the civic body, under the pressure of merchants and the Church Street residents, tried to evict them since November 2024.
“BBMP is armed with a truck, entertains our goods and takes them without even giving us seizures. Mostly we don’t even get half the seized goods. What we get back is usually damaged. It is wrong to target us like this.
Social activists supporting street sellers came on the spot and demanded that civil officials to serve announcements and make Mahazar confiscated goods according to the law on street sellers (protection of livelihood and regulation of street sales) from 2014.
“Civic officials who came to drive refused to make Mahazar. After the protest and police intervention, the officer gave a written commitment without any formal sign or seal from the civic body. Officials just allowed us to take a picture and did not give us the original,” said Hamdan Quraishi, activist.
Mr. Quraishi also claimed that the police were also adjacent to civil officials and tried to disrupt the improvised protest and quoted the command of the High Court and said that any protest outside the freedom Park was illegal.
Published – June 18, 2025 22:31 is
