For a living,India Gate vendors play hide ‘n’ seek with police

For most vendors and stall-owners selling ice-creams,golgappas and pakoras on the pavements near Rajpath,earning a living has become a daily struggle.

After Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal,concerned about “preserving and maintaining the sanctity of Rajpath”,issued strict instructions to make the area free of vendors,most of them have found it difficult to go to anywhere else. They keep coming back,in search of “business”.

“We have good business here. If we go elsewhere,we will suffer,” Kashyap said.

In February,the police had dismantled numerous stalls and asked vendors to shift. “We have to move to another spot if a VIP is passing by. What else can we do?” rues Ramdas from Badaun in UP,who sells ice-creams.

Rajpath,with the India Gate nearby,is a favourite haunt for tourists and Sunday revellers. But earlier this year,the Delhi Police chief thought “it is essential that no vendor be allowed on the road”. A statement from him said: “The vendors are allowed to park and sell their wares only on the crossroads and around the Children’s Park. But vendors often come to Rajpath without permission.”

“I too was asked by the police to move away from the pavement near India Gate,but I had nowhere to go,so I came back,” ice-cream vendor Mukesh Yadav said. “Here the business is brisk. There are always plenty of people around India Gate.”

The tourists are not happy either. “Coming to India Gate and not tasting a golgappa or going away without having an ice-cream is unthinkable,” said Ramesh,out with his family for an evening at India Gate.