Part 5 : The History of Nehru Place Street Vendors
1. DDA’s Idea of Zero Tolerance Zone for Vendors At least three hundred vendors operate from Nehru Place by paying a bribe of Rs 500 to 1000 per day. With such high bribe rates, most stalls are shared by 3 to 4 persons. Many have taken to selling pornographic CDs and drugs on the side to accommodate such high bribes. Photo taken on January 9, 2009
2. Why are Manushi project members special targets of clearance operations by DDA? Because they operate in a disciplined manner and were able to negotiate a lower hafta of Rs 50 a day on account of their membership of pilot project while others have to pay Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per day, leading to increase in the sale of drugs and pornography because banned goods generate higher profits.
4. Cleanliness and civic discipline gives legitimacy to the presence of vendors in the public eye and therefore seen as a threat by DDA employees
5. Daily, assaults, and confiscation of goods enable DDA employees and police to extort lakhs of rupees everyday by way of bribes The Real Face of Terror in India
6. 70 year-old Rukmini Devi—the sole earner for the six children of her two dead sons and an ailing husband-- being carried away by the police after a beating and confiscation of goods on April 19, 2008. She is critically ill, weighs less than 34 kilos today due to malnutrition with no money for operation of her kidney stone or her grandson’s much needed hernia operation
7. Police routinely brought in by DDA employees to swoop down on vendors No wonder the police have little time to catch criminals and terrorists! The honest among vendors are special targets
8. A woman vendor resisting her removal Police brought in for forcible removal
9. 70 year old Rukmani used to carry readymade garments in two cloth bags that hang on her arms to escape her goods being snatched away This man, like many others carries his wares on his own body so that he can run and save his goods when the confiscation brigade attacks him Vendors took to carrying their goods on their bodies but even this does not save their goods from routine confiscation by DDA staff
11. This young man pays Rs 200 per day for the privilege of sitting sitting on a small stool displaying his business of cartridge refilling on a small card board box. Zero Tolerance for Vendors, High Tolerance for Corruption
12. This vendor selling low cost mobile phones pays Rs 15,000 per month as protection money to the DDA and the shop owner in order to put a small display counter in front of a regular shop. Zero Tolerance for Vendors, High Profits for Extortionists
13. DDA’s Idea of Zero Tolerance Zone No space for this vendor in Nehru Place – but enough space for Sona Sweet House to extend their operation in the corridors
14. At least three hundred vendors operate from Nehru Place by paying Rs 500 to 1000 per day. DDA’s Idea of Zero Tolerance Zone for Vendors
15. Sworn testimonies of Nehru Place Vendors from 50 paise a day (in 1972) to Rs 500 a day “ I Pappu Mandal s/o Late Gopal Mandal am giving true testimony. Two of us (Yogendra Singh and Pappu Mandal) sell ready made garments on the footpath [in Nehru Place]. Every day, DDA tout Rinku takes Rs 500 each from both of us for one stall totaling Rs 1000 per day. If we resist paying, he threatens to get us removed. After both of us pay him Rs 1000 we are left with very little for our own survival. Sd/- Pappu Mandal, Yogendra Singh
16. The real meaning of “Zero Tolerance “ Escalation in bribe rates: From 50 paise a day in 1972 to Rs 500 to 1000 a day in 2009 depending on the stall size
17. DDA’s idea of rejuvenating Nehru Place! Crores wasted since 2003 in the name of beautification .
