Over a hundred street vendors from across the district held a mass demonstration at the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) headquarters on Wednesday against various issues, including their eviction and the civic unit’s move to charge exorbitant fees from them for garbage disposal.

The protesters, who congregated at Luby Circular Road, said they had been evicted without any arrangement for rehabilitation as no vending zones were constructed as per the provisions of National Urban Livelihood.

“Many of the evicted street vendors are on the verge of starvation, losing their source of income. They are also facing the burden of repayment of loans provided to them under the PM Street Vendor Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Yojna,” Shyamal Mazumder, leader of the protest told The Telegraph Online.

Umesh Prasad, one of the agitators said they have been facing constant threats of eviction.

“We are ready to move but no vending zone has been constructed in the district despite tall claims made by the DMC in this regard,” Prasad, who supports a family of seven, said.

He also protested the civic body’s move of levying an exorbitant user charge of Rs 200 per month in lieu of garbage disposal.

“We had requested the Municipal Commissioner, Satyendra Kumar during the Town Vending Committee (TVC) meet to reduce the user charges to Rs 30 per month but despite assurance no action has been taken,” Prasad said.

He also raised objections over the delay in providing smart cards to the vendors, alleging that their previous identity cards were full of errors.

Dilip Chaurasia, a betel shop owner said he has been spending sleepless nights of late fearing the loss of a source of livelihood due to the anti-encroachment drive.