A Friday evening drizzle near the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain sent roadside vendors selling prasad and souvenirs scurrying. Looking for cover, they folded their mats, packed their wares and shut shop for the day, rather early.
These vendors near Gate 4 of the temple say that around 250 of them who plied their trade along a 500-metre stretch were displaced to make way for a religious programme in 2022. Since then, they have not been allowed to set up their stalls.
Gangabai Sisodia, who has been selling prasad for 40 years now, said they do not have a fixed place to do business, unlike other vendors who have stalls where a table is used as a makeshift counter. “We keep moving from one place to another to make a living as either the municipal corporation officials or the guards hired by the temple committee keep harassing us. They often seize all our items forcing us out of business for days,” she said.
Ujjain, a Scheduled Caste-reserved constituency, is one of the eight Lok Sabha seats that will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. The historic Mahakaleshwar Temple, which has become the city’s identity, falls in this constituency.
The vendors said ever since the eviction, they have been running around various public representatives hoping to find a solution. “We have written several letters to everyone, from the Prime Minister to the Chief Minister to the local MP, but we have got no response,” said Sanjay Chouhan, president of the Haath Thela and Footpath Vyapari Sangh, Mahakal, Ujjain, a district-level vendors’ union.
Jyoti Kahar, another vendor, said: “Leaders often come and assure us of many things. But nobody listens to us after the elections. We don’t think anything is going to change this time.”
In 2022, the union had moved the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court saying the vendors had been doing business in the area for 30 years by paying Rs 20 per day to the civic body. It said the hawkers were being removed without the authorities providing them an alternative location. The high court, though, dismissed the petition. This March, however, the Supreme Court directed the union to again approach the high court with a writ petition.
Advocate Renu, who argued the case in the Supreme Court, told The Hindu that her team is currently working to get the vendors registered with local bodies to strengthen the case before approaching the high court.
Vendors said there is a confusion between the civic body and the temple committee over controlling a part of the stretch and alleged “harassment from both sides”.
Nisha Kahar, another vendor, said inconsistent business has made it difficult for many vendors to pay off loans taken under the PM SVANidhi Scheme.
Usha Bharti, who joined the business as a teenager with her parents 30 years ago, said, “A few months ago, a team of temple committee guards seized all my items and with it took my documents and diary related to the loan. I have been running around to get the documents back. I don’t know how I will repay my loan.”
Speaking to The Hindu, Anil Firojiya, the Ujjain MP whom the BJP has fielded again, denied harassment of the vendors and said the authorities are working to reinstate them. “But vendors keep fighting with each other over business. Two murders have happened in the area over these disputes. They sometimes fight with the pilgrims. They need to first stop doing all this for the administration to do anything,” he said.
Ruby Yadav, the security and protocol in-charge of the temple, denied allegations that items were seized from the vendors. She told The Hindu that it was necessary to remove “illegal encroachment” during the influx of pilgrims.
“The temple administration and the civic body both have designated space for vendors, but you will find them all around the premises and on roads troubling the pilgrims. We do not seize their items but only remove the establishments set up illegally. Many vendors misbehave with pilgrims and charge them extremely high rates for prasad,” Ms. Yadav said.
Ujjain Municipal Commissioner Ashish Pathak said the civic body takes “action against illegal encroachment across the city”. “The allegations of harassment are false,” he said.
