Organizing Reports from ACORN Bangalore for May, June, and July 2012
MAY:
Weekly Meetings:
Regular meetings were held in Hebbal:.Yelahanka New town, Shivajinagar, Yeshwanthpur and In K.R. Puram:
We had a protest in front of Town Hall along with our member Associations which was organized by NCL.
One more meeting was held on the street vendors issue with the organizations and the logistics and other issues were discussed. Issac from Action aid, Selva from Jansahayog, Maithri from ALF, Vinay from Beedhi vyaparigala hakkothaya Okkoota, Swathi from Equations, Srinivas from AKRVO K.R.Puram , Nirmal from Yeashwanthpur traders association, Zamir from Shivajinagar street vendors association participated. It was also decided that Suresh from ACORN, Issac from Action aid, Vinay from Beedhi vyaparigala hakkothaya Okkoota will meet on 29th to finalize the draft of the study questionnaire.
And again we met on 29th and prepared the questionnaire for the study and it was circulated among the members for suggestions.
JUNE:
Weekly Meetings:
Hebbal, Yelahanka New town, Shivajinagar ,Yeshwanthpur,and In K.R. Puram
Diabetes screening camp was held in Muthyala nagara slum.
Meeting on street vendors issue was held at ALF office to discuss about the study in the issue and the financial participation.
Meeting on the homeless shelter, ACORN, ALF, Action aid IGSSS and other organizations attended. The meeting focused on the issues of allotting the shelters to the NGO’s and the process of the allotment adopted by the government of Karnataka.
Meeting on Road widening and the affected communities. ESG, Hasiru Usiru, and 12 other RWA’s and 2 more organizations participated. A network of the organizations was launched and named as Bangalore Transportation Projects Impacted Communities Network (BATPIC network). It was decided to hold a Press conference on 17th of July.
The registration of the Street vendors union was rejected on the grounds that the methodology adopted to identify the street vendors was not acceptable to the officials and was assured to get it right through a form issued by the Labour Department.
40 street vendors in Vijayanagar got their Identity cards issued by the Department of Labor through which they will be eligible for the various social security schemes from the government.
JULY:
Weekly Meetings:
Regular meetings were held at Hebbal, Yelahanka New town, Shivajinagar, Yeshwanthpur, K.R. Puram, Vijayanagar, Basavanagudi, and Malleshwaram.
A blood donation camp was conducted at KR Puram Market on 1st of July as a mark of protest. 850 vendors donated their blood. The blood donated was handed over to the Karnataka Health department and a letter to the BBMP commissioner and the Mayor was submitted stating the people at the market would give their blood rather giving up the market for construction of the commercial complex.
A press meet was held at the Bangalore Press club on the road widening and its affected communities under the banner BATPIC network. A joint statement was released to draw the attention of the government on the effect of the projects of the government and also to suggest some of the alternate solutions.
A protest march from K.R. Puram to the BBMP office was organized by ACORN demanding for 50 specific market spaces for vendors all over Bangalore, and to implement the Street vendors’ policy in Karnataka. Over 2500 vendors from different parts of Bangalore participated in the protest. The participation was from, Malleshwaram and Shivajinagar – Bangalore Centre, Hebbal, K.R. Puram and Yeshwanthpur – Bangalore North, Basavanagudi, Jayanagar, Banashankari – Bangalore South. There were other organizations also extending their support for the cause. And 25 organizations also sent their representative to be part of the march.
Follow up of the registration of the Union for the vendors.
In Hebbal verification by the government officials for issuing of ID card was over. Of the 150 vendors 148 vendors will be getting their ID cards by the end next month.
