Threatened, Beaten, Punched, Kicked...But Battling On

Ten years ago when Manushi got involved in the work forpolicy reform work for street vendors, we had hoped that we would help reformthe system of vending licenses and provide a measure of livelihood security fornearly one crore persons in various urban centres of India who survive byvending and hawking on the streets. Ironically, even while we have had notablesuccess in changing the policy framework at least on paper, today Manushivolunteers and staff are as endangered as the vendors and hawkers whose rightswe sought to strengthen. After a series of violent attacks by mafia elements onme and several Manushi volunteers and staff, and because of threats against mylife, I have been made to accept round the clock police security at the behestof the Lt Governor of Delhi. 

Most ironical of all, there are particular parts of Delhi I cannot enterwithout risking my very life and without being escorted by four fivepoliceman--namely: Sewa Nagar and Kotla Mubarakpur areas in the heart of NewDelhi. All this because Sewa Nagar was selected as the site of a uniqueexperiment through which Manushi undertook the responsibility for creating aself governing market for street vendors.  This pilot project aimed at notonly legalizing the status of street vendors by making them pay regular rent tothe municipality but also help transform Sewa Nagar hawker market into a rolemodel of civic discipline for the rest of the city.

As per the estimates of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, there are overthree lakh street vendors and mobile hawkers in Delhi. But less than 3000persons have managed to secure vending licenses from the MCD and that too afterprolonged legal battles in the High Court and the Supreme Court of Delhi. Thesituation is no different in other urban centres of India. The illegal status ofmore than 99% vendors makes them easy targets of extortionist mafias. In Delhialone, vendors end up suffering an income loss of at least Rs 500 crores peryear by way of bribes and confiscation of goods while being routinely subjectedto systematic blackmail, terror and human rights abuses.

A key argument offered by municipal agencies and the police for notlegalising the status of street vendors is that street hawkers causeobstructions for other road users and also spread chaos and squalor. To combatthis official prejudice against vendors Manushi offered to take responsibilityto show by example how:

• Vendors can be accommodated in the city in an aesthetic and orderly manner.
• Security of livelihood and avenues for upward mobility can be provided for the self-employed poor by giving them access to space for developing their entrepreneurial skills;
• The existing system of payoffs, protection rackets run by politically connected mafias who indulge in routine human rights abuses to extract bribes can be replaced with fee based access to market space which enhances municipal revenues and curbs the growth of criminal mafias who parasite on the poor in urban areas. 

We raised funds through personal donations from Manushi supporters, hired ateam of architects and submitted a detailed plan of action to MCD. Each projectmember voluntarily signed an oath (Shapath Patra) on Rs. 10 stamp paperagreeing to abide by the following disciplines:

• Pay a monthly rent of Rs.390/ to the MCD through Manushi; 
• Contribute towards the salary of the Cleaning Brigade specially hired to maintain cleanliness in the project area;
• Stay within the agreed-upon Sanyam Rekha, (Line of Discipline) Hawkers who do not observe this discipline agreed to be fined Rs. 100 per violation of Sanyam Rekha.
• Promise not to build any extra structures above or outside the stall area;
• Promise not to sell or rent out the allotted stall.

Those who violate these disciplines are liable to have their membershipcancelled and the stall sealed. Manushi also took the responsibility forredesigning the rehdis and vending platforms to improve theirfunctionality, cleanliness and aesthetic appeal.  We also arranged ICICIloans for vendors to pay for the cost of new stalls.  Manushi alsobore the cost of ensuring rent compliance from all those street vendorswho opted to become part of the model market project.

Seeking Legal Sanction for Model Market Project

A major breakthrough in getting sanction for the pilotproject occurred after the MCD got a pro-citizen Commissioner, Mr. Rakesh Mehta,who strongly backed this project. The MCD Commissioner approached the SupremeCourt to allow the M.C.D. to undertake two pilot projects, one at Sewa Nagar andthe second near CGO complex in collaboration with Manushi to try demonstrate byconcrete example how vendors could be accommodated in the city landscape in anorderly and aesthetic manner. It would also create a model for rejuvenating ourcities without throwing out the poor who would in fact become tax payers andcontribute to city’s maintenance and infrastructure development rather than beseen as a nuisance. 

The petition filed in the Supreme Court argued forcefully that the existing tehbazarisystem had facilitated massive extortion rackets and widespread human rightsabuses. It admitted that the restrictive licensing policy had proved a dismalfailure in controlling the number of vendors in the city, which keep increasingwith the overall rise in population of Delhi. Therefore, there was need toevolve a more realistic system of licensing. The petition also informed theCourt that if the pilot projects proved successful, they would provide a modelfor creating hawking zones all over Delhi  

On April 10, 2003, Supreme Court gave a go ahead to MCD to execute two pilotprojects with the following words of caution:  

"…The implementation of any policy or project, howsoever well motivated it may be, depends on the bona fides and whole-hearted faithful implementation by the agencies involved in the execution. We only hope and trust that such projects and policies shall not be shadowed by corruption and red-tapism which, unfortunately, has become the order of the day…" 

An Agreement was signed and registered between MCD and Manushi for the SewaNagar and CGO Complex Pilot Projects on April 7, 2004. Mrs. Ambika Sonisupported the Sewa Nagar project with Rs 25 lakhs from her MPLAD fund to buildthe required civic infrastructure in Sewa Nagar, new pavements, stall platforms,park plazas, drains etc. Dr. Karan Singh sanctioned Rs 10 lakh from his M.P.LADfund for the CGO complex project but the local police made it impossible for usto execute the project, despite clearance from the Security Wing of CGO Complex.MCD Commissioner could not do much about it because the land was temporarilyunder CPWD charge. They were hostile to the project and kept postponingtransferring that area of land to the MCD.

The Sewa Nagar project started in October 2004 amidst violence and repeatedassaults from the police and local extortionist mafia for the following reasons:

1). Since membership of the project gave them legal protection vendorswho are members of the Manushi pilot project stopped paying monthly bribes. Thelocal mafia was outraged at this.

2). Manushi refused to give in to threats, violent attacks andblackmail tactics of the local mafia including intervention by well knownpolitical leaders, who wanted a certain number of stalls to be handed over tothe " their men" who act as local touts for bribe collection and play a "helpful"role in elections.

As a result, the new civic infrastructure was repeatedly damaged and the newpavements, drains and stalls were time and again vandalized during and evenafter construction. Project members were repeatedly subjected to violence,intimidation and life-threats to make them abandon the project. When the terrortactics failed, the mafia approached the High Court for a stay order on thebasis of bogus and flimsy allegations. The High Court refused to grant stay. Butthe mafia dons keep filing more and more bogus objections to harass and tire usout.

The local mafia indulging in these attacks belongs tothe nearby village, Kotla Mubarakpur. The main figures are Basoya brothers (Babli,Mahipal, Pinky and Ajay) who run several legal and illegal businesses from thearea, a Class IV employee of LNJP Hospital in Delhi, a notorious character namedChavanni, and a mysterious man named Sanjay who refuses to reveal his realidentity and calls himself "Hindustani". They are able to mobilize other antisocial elements of the area with ease since they are bound together through tiesof kinship, crime and corruption. At the local level, both Congress and BJPleaders offer them support and patronage. 

Twenty years ago Basoyas were among the lower rungs of Kotla Mubarakpur. Theeldest son Mahipal began his life as a tempo driver. But over the last twodecades through a mix of crime, extortion, robbery and illegal occupation ofgovernment land they have today amassed assets worth crores.  Their newfound wealth provides valuable insights into how those rising from the ranks ofthe poor fleece the poor with far greater ferocity and how those making moneythrough illegal means inevitably gravitate towards politics and manage to findpatrons cutting across party lines.  

Apart from owning a flourishing transport business including a fleet oftempos and taxis, the illegal businesses run by Basoyas include the following: 

• Extortionist money-lending, at 120% per year interest from local street vendors and other needy people. They use terror tactics to extract their loan repayment and have used this tactic to illegally take over stalls of several vendors.
• An unregistered Kameti (Chit Fund) business that acts as a supplement to their money lending business. Those in need of loans are induced to join the Kameti and lift money at a loss and thereafter made to pay hefty instalments of Rs 7000 to 10,000 per month. Those unable to pay are charged 120% interest on defaulted instalments. Many have fallen into the debt trap because of this Kameti racket. Most of the vendors are unable to make sense of their complex calculations since the whole business is conducted without any written receipts. Yogesh’s account given below provides a graphic account of how their money lending and Kameti business go hand in hand.
• Making and selling duplicate copies of pornographic and other CDs. They hold shows of blue films at night at their adda.
• Buying and selling stolen petrol and diesel. People have witnessed government and private company cars come and deliver petrol and diesel to them during odd hours of day and night. They sell this at slightly discounted price to local people.
• Selling illegally tapped power supply and ground water at exorbitant prices to shopkeepers and residents of the area. For example, they charge Rs.300/- per month per fish vendor and those selling cooked food for the supply of water from a bore pump they drilled illegally in the public park. Similarly, each vendor has to pay Rs 10-20 per day for stolen electricity.
• Extorting money from local vendors by running a "protection" racket charging Rs 50 to Rs 100 per day from each vendor who operates under their protection.
• In addition they own farm land and two multi storey buildings in Kotla Mubarakpur from which they get a rental income of over 1.25 lakh per month from working class tenants who are given little cubby-holes at high rents.

The Tempo Stand acts as their base and adda where anti social elements of thearea gather daily for drinking liquor and creating terror by routine assaultsand attacks on vulnerable individuals.  

Unable to grab stalls through violence or blackmail, the local mafia,developed a new strategy. Due to the absence of credit facilities many vendorsare under their debt. Even when they pay hefty instalments, the debt keepsmounting because the interest rate is astronomical. The money lending mafiabegan to surreptitiously take over the stalls of some of the indebted vendors bymaking them sign off their rights on Rs 100 denomination stamp paper. 

A sample of their criminal ways of money making isprovided by the account of Yogesh Kumar as to how they tried to grab hold of theallotted stall to him. In April 2003, Shiv Kumar-- one of the members of thelocal mafia led by Basoya brothers and Bhagat Singh, persuaded Yogesh intotaking a loan of Rs 35,000 at an interest rate of Rs 120% per annum to invest inhis business much against the wishes of Yogesh’s mother. 

From May 2003 to December 2005 Yogesh paid Rs 3500 per month by way ofinterest for the loan of Rs 35,000. However, from January 2006 to March 2006Yogesh was unable to pay the monthly interest because he was not left withenough money for running the household expenses. Yogesh was threatened that heshould either pay a lump sum of Rs 50,000 or transfer his stall in ShivKumar’s name. When he resisted, the leader of this gang Mahipal Basoyainsisted that Yogesh should join their "Kameti" (Chit Fund) group for200,000 rupees, lift the money and pay off his debt to Shiv Kumar. Since joiningthe Kameti meant paying a hefty monthly instalment ranging from Rs 7000 to Rs9000 per month which Yogesh could ill afford, he was very reluctant to do so butwas threatened into accepting the deal. 

In September 2006, they forced Yogesh to lift the Kameti at a loss of Rs60,000. Shiv Kumar took away Rs 70,000 as his dues on the loan of Rs 35, 000 hehad originally given Yogesh who was handed over merely Rs 30,000 in hand for aKameti of Rs 200,000. Mahipal claimed the rest of the amount as penalty forjoining six months late.   

After that for one whole year Yogesh paid to Mahipal Basoya a monthlyinstalment ranging from Rs 7000 per month to Rs 8,000 for the 2 lakh Kametitotalling to over Rs. 80, 000. But this hefty instalment meant that he was leftwith no money whatsoever for his household expenditure. His wifehad to work as a domestic help in order to supplement the household expenditure.This created a lot of tension in his family. Therefore, he stopped paying Kametiinstalments. At this point Bhagat Singh and Basoya brothers forcibly took awayhis new scooter, which had been purchased on instalments by his father. Inaddition, they forced him to open a bank account and issue several blank chequesto them in order to black mail him further since bounced cheques can lead to ajail sentence.  

Thus on a loan of Rs 35,000 Yogesh has already paid them more than Rs3,63,000 by way of interest, including loss of his scooter. Yet by September2007 they began claiming nearly 120, 000 rupees more in order to clear his duesor else transfer his stall to their names. He was told that if he refused theirdemand he would be beaten out of the market. This was not an empty threat. Theyhad used exactly the same tactic for "purchasing" the stalls of several othermembers of the pilot project. Whoever dared resist was beaten up and driven outof the market. The pressure to sign away his stall in the name of Basoyas got sointimidating that in sheer panic Yogesh simply fled from the market and tookshelter in a near by town with some distant relatives without informing hismother or wife regarding his whereabouts. After weeks of searching his motherSaroj Devi finally traced him down and brought him to Manushi for help. Wehelped him file a police complaint as well as a court case but despite our bestefforts we have failed to get a simple F.I.R registered so far. 

When these illegal transfers of stalls came to theknowledge of Manushi, we requested the Deputy Commissioner of Central Zone toseal the stalls, which had been ‘purchased’ illegally from vulnerableproject members. Therefore, on January 4, 2007 eleven stalls were sealed by theMCD. This firm action aimed at the mafia unleashed a new and more deadly wave ofviolence and terror against Manushi.  

The reason for the violence is understandable. Due to the transformation ofSewa Nagar from a slum-like hawker market to a neat and well-developed area, themarket value of each stall and the combined value of the entire pilot projectarea is today worth several crores. Each stall already commands a black-marketprice of Rs.5 to 15 lakhs depending on its location.  The local politiciansand their mafia associates are not willing to allow an ordinary vendor to haveusufruct rights over a property whose market value is rising fast given theshort supply of commercial space in Delhi. They are being ousted one by onethrough force and fraud. 

These criminal elements join the bandwagon of whichever party comes to power.Therefore, they are able to get the patronage of political leaders of all hueswho are all united by common interest--to ensure that the livelihood of vendorsstays captive in their grip so that they do not dare resist paying bribes and dotheir bidding at election times.  

Since April 30^th, none of us can enter that area without riskingour lives. I myself have thrice narrowly escaped being lynched to death by them.I have been threatened with gang rape and worse if I dare pursue the matterfurther. The most active among project members (Mehboob, Ishwar Lal, Shahid,Yaseen and Raj Kumar) who had played a vital role in organizing project membersand bringing about civic discipline in the area were brutally beaten up in aseries of violent incidents starting April 19^th, and driven out ofthe market. They were warned not to dare enter the market or else they wouldface death. Other members are also threatened daily, roughed up, terrorized,fleeced and forced to sign all kinds of bogus documents and petitions againstthe project without even being shown the text. What is worst, after eachincident of assault, I and other members of Manushi have patently bogus criminalcases filed against us subjecting us to soul-destroying harassment.