Shillong, August 8: The deployment of a large number of police personnel along Jail Road towards Polo to prevent street vendors from returning to the footpaths has triggered anger among vegetable sellers, particularly women farmers who depend on the evening market to earn a livelihood and support their families.
For many daily and weekly wage earners, Saturday is an important day to earn income and purchase food and other household necessities. However, several vegetable sellers, including farmers who travel to Shillong with their produce, said they were prevented from setting up their stalls along Jail Road following the Shillong Municipal Board’s (SMB) drive to clear the pedestrian stretch.
Since August 5, municipal authorities, assisted by police personnel, have maintained a presence at different points along Jail Road towards Polo to ensure that vendors do not reoccupy the footpath.
The action follows the relocation of vendors from Jail Road to designated vending spaces. According to the Urban Affairs Department, vendors from the area have been shifted to a designated vending zone at the parking lot near SBI under the Meghalaya Street Vendors Scheme, 2023.
On August 5, the Hynniewtrep Jail Road Street Vendors Association (HJRSVA) opposed the eviction drive and appealed to the State Government to allow vendors to resume selling along Jail Road from 5 pm every day.
The association also met Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Urban Affairs, Sniawbhalang Dhar, and placed its demand before him.
Association leaders argued that Jail Road becomes largely pedestrian-oriented during the evening hours and assured the Government that vendors would operate only after 5 pm so that normal movement of the public would not be affected. They also alleged that vendors had been removed from the area since July 26 without receiving prior notice from the SMB.
The situation turned emotional on Saturday when several women farmers arrived with vegetables to sell but were prevented from setting up their stalls. Some were accompanied by their young children while carrying their produce.
The women expressed anger over the restrictions, saying farming and vending are their primary sources of income and are essential for feeding their families and educating their children.
Speaking to the media, some of the women questioned the Government’s policy of encouraging people to become self-employed and take up farming while simultaneously restricting small farmers from selling their produce in areas where they can find customers.
They maintained that they were not occupying the vehicular road but were using the pedestrian stretch and claimed that allowing them to sell during the evening hours would not cause significant inconvenience to the public.
The women also questioned the heavy deployment of police personnel along Jail Road.
“If the Government needs so many police personnel here just to stop poor farmers and vendors from selling vegetables, why can’t they send them to the Assam border to protect our people?” some of the aggrieved women questioned.
They accused the authorities of using excessive force against economically weaker sections and alleged that indigenous farmers and small vendors were being treated unfairly in their own homeland.
The Government, meanwhile, has maintained that the relocation and regulation of street vendors is part of a broader effort to make Shillong cleaner, safer and more organised, while also protecting vendors’ livelihoods by providing designated vending spaces.
With police continuing to guard the Jail Road pedestrian stretch, the authorities appear determined to prevent vendors from returning to the footpath.
However, the vendors’ demand to be allowed to operate during evening hours remains unresolved, leaving the issue as a growing point of contention between the street vendors and the Government.
