70+ vendors evicted from Church Street footpaths

Eere’s some good news for pedestrians and those who want to visit Church Street on weekends. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) team of officials along with police on Friday evicted around 70 street vendors who were occupying the footpaths on Church Street.

All these years, pedestrians used to struggle to navigate through these footpaths, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, as most of the space used to be occupied by vendors. Moreover, the residents complained that they were not able to take out their vehicles as the vendors would park their vehicles in front of their homes and entrances of residential apartments.

A resident appreciated this move and said, “We are not against street vendors eking out livelihood but could not afford them to occupy footpaths and all the space available on Church Street. On weekends, all types of vendors come to Church Street, thus causing a lot of inconvenience for us.’’

Brahmananda Reddy, vice president of Rest House Road Welfare Association, said, “The street vendors were not only a nuisance but also incurring loss to the businessmen here. I want the BBMP and the police to keep a vigil on the street vendors in the future.”

Another resident pleading anonymity said the BBMP authorities should not allow any kind of encroachment on the Church Street footpaths. “I want the vendors to respect the pedestrians by leaving sufficient space for them to walk on the footpaths. There are some vendors, including hotels, occupying footpaths during the weekdays. I want the authorities to act tough against those occupying footpaths and thus causing inconvenience to the pedestrians,’’ the resident said.

The BBMP’s Zonal Commissioner (East) Snehal R, said, “We want footpaths free from all types of encroachments. Footpaths are meant for pedestrians and certainly not for vendors.’’