IMPHAL, Dec 7: The Road Side Vendors Welfare Association, Khwairamband Keithel has stated in a press release that they organised a sit-in protest at the temporary market by ceasing work for a day.
Starting from November 8 this year, the government has started evicting street vending women with the help of State police personnel at night from the places where the street vendors sell their wares. However, the women folks have been resisting the government`™s move by camping at the market place 24X7 to this day, it said.
It further stated that the Imphal Municipal Council (IMC) is drawing lots on December 8 after a tender notice on the premise that the vending spaces of the women folks has become a public private parking area.
The demonstration is being held as a mark of protest against the government and IMC who despite being urged on several occasions to refrain from going ahead with their decisions are still unrelenting, it said.
The demands made during the sit-in protest were for the government to stop granting permits to street vendors until it acts in accordance with the judgement passed by the Supreme Court to not allow the vending spaces of the women folks in the temporary market be converted into the public parking.
They also demanded the immediate formation of a town vending committee and the announcement of the areas north of the temporary shed where the street vendors peddle their wares as a `Vending Zone` by the government.