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Nagpur’s Street Vendors: Inside the Hidden Battle Over City Markets and Livelihoods

Nagpur’s Street Vendors: Inside the Hidden Battle Over City Markets and Livelihoods
Nagpur’s Street Vendors: Inside the Hidden Battle Over City Markets and Livelihoods

The narrow streets of Sitabuldi, Mahal, and Itwari markets that have long pulsed with the voices of thousands of street vendors now stand at the centre of a brewing confrontation. In Nagpur, home to an estimated one lakh street vendors, only 1,225 hold official licences while just 43 vending zones have been approved by authorities yet none have been physically marked on the ground.


This stark disparity has thrust the city into a complex web of legal challenges, administrative failures, and human desperation that extends far beyond the boundaries of Vidarbha.


The Bombay High Court has delivered scathing criticism of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation's eviction policies, issuing contempt notices to senior officials for violating court orders that protect licensed vendors from arbitrary removal. The judicial intervention has exposed a system where policy exists on paper but implementation remains trapped in bureaucratic paralysis.


Scale of the Crisis


The magnitude of street vending in Nagpur defies official recognition. Post-Covid economic disruptions pushed the number of street vendors beyond one lakh, with some estimates suggesting even higher figures.


These vendors, drawn from across Vidarbha region, represent a massive workforce that supports approximately five lakh people indirectly through family dependencies, supply chains, and auxiliary services.


Yet the disconnect between reality and official acknowledgement remains profound. While 5,920 hawkers are registered with the NMC and were authorised to participate in Town Vending Committee elections, only 1,225 have received official licences.

The zones with the highest licence distribution paint a picture of severe underrepresentation. Laxmi Nagar has issued 176 licences, Dharampeth 250, Gandhibagh 109, and Mangalwari just 91, numbers that represent a fraction of those actually operating in these areas.


This licensing crisis stems from the stalled implementation of the Street Vendors Act of 2014, which mandates the formation of Town Vending Committees and the creation of designated vending zones.


The TVC for Nagpur, comprising 18 members including seven hawker representatives, has finalised 43 vending zones with state government approval.


However, the actual demarcation of these zones remains pending with the NMC's market department, creating a regulatory vacuum that leaves thousands vulnerable to eviction.


Judicial Intervention and Administrative Response


The Bombay High Court's involvement began when hawker representative Abdul Razzaq Qureshi, general secretary of the Nagpur Street Vendors and Shopkeepers Association, filed contempt petitions against NMC officials.


The court found that despite holding valid licences, several hawkers were forcibly evicted from designated hawkers' zones in violation of a 2023 court order that explicitly protects street vendors with valid licences or pending renewals from eviction.

Justice Anil Kilor and Justice Vrushali Joshi issued notices to four senior NMC officials, including Additional Commissioner Ajay Charthankar, Encroachment Department Assistant Commissioner Harish Raut, Dharampeth Zone Assistant Commissioner Prakash Varade, and Deputy Superintendent Sanjay Kamble, directing them to respond within two weeks to contempt charges.


The legal documents reveal that 344 hawkers operate on Sitabuldi Main Road alone, of whom 78 hold permanent licences and 266 have temporary ones. These vendors have been conducting business in the area for over three decades, yet the civic body acted unilaterally in cancelling the hawkers' zone without consulting the city-level hawker committee or giving affected vendors a hearing.


Senior advocate MG Bhangde, representing the petitioners, argued that NMC's actions not only defied court directives but also violated the rights of those granted legal permission to operate their businesses. The sudden eviction left hundreds of families without income sources, demonstrating the human cost of administrative failures.


The Harassment Network


Street vendors in Nagpur face a complex web of harassment that extends beyond periodic crackdowns. The daily reality involves multiple forms of exploitation that have created a parallel economy of extortion and fear.


NMC officials regularly seize vendor goods, with the official return period of 15 days often extending to three to four months. Vendors report that fines, officially set at standard rates, frequently double without clear documentation or receipts.

The seizure process itself lacks proper documentation. Despite legal requirements for panchanama preparation during goods seizure, vendors frequently report that their goods are confiscated without proper inventory or witness procedures. Perishable goods are often destroyed without compensation, leaving vendors to bear total losses while still facing fines for retrieval of their carts and equipment.


A recent major scam exposed in the NMC market department revealed the sale of discontinued hawker registration certificates bearing the civic body's official hologram for Rs 1,000 each.


These certificates, which NMC officially stopped issuing in 2017, were being distributed with authentic-looking holograms and stamps. Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari ordered a detailed probe after TVC member Kaustav Chatterjee questioned how individuals could access NMC's database to produce such documents.


Women vendors face additional vulnerabilities, including verbal harassment from officials, sexual harassment from various quarters, and a lack of basic facilities like toilets or safe resting areas. The absence of a secure registration status increases their exposure to extortion, with several studies indicating that vendors spend considerable portions of their earnings on unofficial fees demanded by various intermediaries.


The economic significance of street vending extends throughout Vidarbha, creating dependencies that ripple across the region. Traditional markets in Sitabuldi, Mahal, and Itwari have operated as economic anchors, drawing customers from smaller towns and rural areas. The disruption of these markets affects not just vendors but also suppliers, transporters, and small manufacturers who depend on this informal retail network.


Recent COVID-19 impact studies revealed that the majority of food vendors in Maharashtra belonged to the Vidarbha region, highlighting the concentration of economic dependency.


These vendors, working more than 12 hours daily before lockdown, sustained family units averaging 5.25 members. The economic disruption caused by eviction drives creates ripple effects that extend to rural areas where families depend on remittances from urban street vending.


The relocation of vendors from established sites like Sitabuldi to alternative locations such as Maharajbagh DP Road has proven economically unviable.

The alternative sites lack basic infrastructure, customer footfall, and accessibility. Licensed vendors offered these relocations have largely refused to move, citing both economic hardship and the impracticality of conducting business in areas without established commercial activity.


Administrative Breakdown and Policy Failures


The Town Vending Committee, intended to bridge the gap between vendors and administration, has become a source of deeper conflict.


Seven hawker representatives have boycotted TVC meetings, alleging that their inputs are routinely ignored and decisions are taken unilaterally by officials.


During a recent meeting, hawker leaders described the TVC as serving private interests while pushing small vendors toward economic collapse.


The Maharashtra Hawker Federation has criticised the TVC structure, arguing that meaningful vendor participation has been systematically undermined.

The committee meetings proceed without adequate hawker representation, making decisions about vending zones and policies that directly affect thousands of livelihoods without meaningful consultation.


NMC's approach to enforcement has relied heavily on anti-encroachment drives that provide temporary solutions while failing to address underlying issues. The repeated cycle of eviction and reoccupation demonstrates the ineffectiveness of force-driven tactics without comprehensive policy alternatives. Officials cite traffic congestion and pedestrian safety as justifications, yet the drives


Behind the statistics and legal proceedings lie individual stories of struggle and survival. Vendors describe the daily uncertainty of losing their entire stock, especially perishable goods, to immediate confiscation without proper documentation.


The fear of harassment has forced many to consider leaving their only source of income, while others have resorted to paying unofficial fees to continue operating.


The displacement from traditional vending areas has broken decades-old relationships between vendors and customers.


Many vendors had built trust and loyalty over years of operation in specific locations, relationships that cannot be easily transferred to new, unfamiliar areas lacking infrastructure and accessibility.

Families dependent on street vending describe the psychological toll of constant uncertainty. The threat of eviction, combined with the inability to secure official recognition through licensing, creates a state of permanent insecurity that affects not just vendors but their children's education and family stability.


Current Status and Future Prospects

Current Status and Future Prospects for Vendors in Nagpur
Current Status and Future Prospects

Recent developments have intensified the crisis. The NMC has declared Sitabuldi Main Road a no-hawking zone and instructed all licensed vendors to relocate to Maharajbagh DP Road.


However, no vendors have moved to the alternative site, citing its lack of viability. The enforcement drives continue with police support, maintaining the stretch hawker-free while vendors plan legal challenges.


The city police have initiated legal action under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, issuing prohibitory notices to street vendors across central Nagpur areas, including Ganeshpeth, Lakadganj, Shanti Nagar, Pachpaoli, Tehsil, and Kotwali jurisdictions.

This legal approach aims to address encroachments through individual action rather than mass enforcement.


Meanwhile, the High Court continues to monitor the situation through ongoing contempt proceedings. The outcome of these legal challenges could have wide-ranging implications for street vendor rights across the city and potentially influence similar situations in other urban centres.

The crisis in Nagpur reflects larger challenges facing Indian cities as they grapple with informal economy integration, urban planning, and livelihood protection.


With Vidarbha's significant role in regional migration patterns and informal work concentration, the resolution of this conflict will likely influence policy approaches beyond city boundaries.


The vendors' demand transparent licensing processes, properly demarcated and equipped vending zones, and recognition of their economic contribution rather than treatment as encroachers.

Their struggle represents a fundamental question about urban development priorities and the place of informal workers in India's rapidly changing cities.


References


 

About the Author

The NewsDirt is a trusted source for authentic, ground-level journalism, highlighting the daily struggles, public issues, history, and local stories from Vidarbha’s cities, towns, and villages. Committed to amplifying voices often ignored by mainstream media, we bring you reliable, factual, and impactful reporting from Vidarbha’s grassroots.

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