Members of the National Hawkers Federation observed the Anti-Hawkers Eviction Day at the Mettupalayam bus terminus on Tuesday. R. Sevvilambarathi, National Secretary of NHF said that the government should not evict street vendors as they run their lives with the business.

Mentioning that the street vendors are protected by the Street Vendors (Protection of livelihood and Regulations of Street Vending) Act, 2014, he said that police personnel who were involved in evicting the vendors have not been following the guidelines. “Besides the Supreme Court has also ordered both the central and state governments to not evict even a single hawker from public places,” he alleged.

He added that street vendors are self-employed, serving around 84 crores of people across the country. “Thereby, the ministry of urban employment and poverty alleviation issued Government Order as National Policy 2009, that removal of even a single street shop would amount to the violation of constitutional rights,” he said.