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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

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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.

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Disciplined vendors: An eyesore and heartache for DDA employees

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Cleanliness and civic discipline gives legitimacy to the presence of vendors in the public eye and therefore seen as a threat by

DDA employees

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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

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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

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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

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A woman vendor resisting her removal

Police brought in for forcible removal

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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

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Tractor being used for carrying away the confiscated goods of vendors

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

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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

DDA’s idea of rejuvenating Nehru Place! Crores wasted since 2003 in the name of beautification.