Nearly 4,000 street vendors here, who depend on daily sales for their income, have been left in the lurch during the lockdown to ward off the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Most of these street vendors do not have ration cards and therefore are not entitled for free government ration. Many also lack Jan Dhan bank accounts through which the Centre is providing Rs 500 to women account holders.
Before the lockdown, these vendors sold ware such as street food, tea, small hardware, flowers. A handful of them have switched to selling vegetables, fruits and groceries which are permitted as they are classified as essential items during the lockdown.
The vendors under the banner of National Association for Street Vendors of India wrote to chief minister Hemant Soren last week, demanding financial assistance in this hour of crisis, and suggested the government appoint them as delivery boys for people needing essentials from the market.
This, they said, would curb crowding in markets and help maintain social distancing. Instead of everybody rushing to the market, only delivery boys would go, they said, adding that it would help them eke out a living.
Sanjeev Singh, who sold books and magazines on Station Road, said he had around Rs 2,000 with him when the lockdown started on March 25.
“That’s now over and I have not earned anything. Buying rice and wheat for my family is a daily struggle. No one I know will give me a loan now as we are all equally poor,” Singh said. “I hope the state government comes to our rescue. The Bihar government has allowed street vendors to operate as delivery boys.”
Vijay Kumar, a roadside tea seller of Dhanbad, said he had neither earnings nor government ration.
“Even beggars are better off. Social outfits are helping them. What about us?” he said.
Santosh Kumar, in charge of the National Urban Livelihood Mission project of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, said: “We are helping the poor by collaborating with social organisations. But we don’t have any specific financial assistance plan for street vendors at the moment.”
