For millions of working people in Indian cities, street food vendors are more than a convenience-they’re a lifeline. Affordable, accessible, and often delicious, these vendors serve the city in more ways than one.
And yet, despite legislation championed by well-meaning activists, and progressive judicial pronouncements-like those from the Bombay High Court-the lived reality of street vendors remains precarious.
They continue to be treated as encroachers by city planners and administrators. Ironically, even those with hearts bleeding for environmental, gender, or human rights causes often look past (or away from) the rights of the people feeding the city from its pavements.
Over the years, a few officers at the helm in the BMC have crafted schemes to accommodate street food vendors with sensitivity – and due regard for hygiene . Judges have issued detailed orders to balance livelihood and urban order. And yet, on the ground, very little has changed.
The truth is: Indian cities still haven’t figured out how to plan with the informal sector instead of despite it.
A fundamental shift is required – from managing street vendors as a “problem” to recognising them as part of the solution to urban hunger, unemployment, and even safety.
After all, a vibrant and safe street is a lived-in, watched-over, and easily fed street.
And sometimes, it’s also where joy quietly arrives in a rain-drenched city :
Despite early morning showers in Mumbai today, I made my way through Kalanagar to pick up breakfast from a vendor as a surprse for my wife.
Muthuram arrived in a kaali-peeli cab all the way from Dharavi, carrying snow-white idlis and two kinds of chutney in large stainless-steel containers . The aroma of the soft idlis and the bold spices in the chutneys cut straight through our jet lag – bringing joy and the unmistakable flavour of the country we call ours . 😊
UrbanIndia #StreetVendors #InclusiveCities #Livelihoods #PublicPolicy #UrbanPlanning #Governance #MumbaiMoments
An ordinary life 
June 16, 2025 at 12:05 pm |
The Municipal/Planning administration for our cities is a disaster … and that is giving them a compliment! The roads (potholes transitioning into craters, connectors that amplify rather than dilute traffic congestion, incomplete roads, etc.), the illegal construction, the squatters, and the filth that pervades across the country is beyond any imagination and a potent potential disaster in the waiting (Surat was a prime example). And this despite the HUGE burden of tax collections by all branches of the Government! In the corporate world, such management would have been fired and in countries with a solid legal system, would have been sued!
Time and again we see frequent digging and re-digging and re-re-digging of pathways – water pipes, electric cables, telecom cables, gas pipelines and perhaps, just for the sake of compensating some contractor! New residential developments without adequate roads, drainage, parking – it’s a nightmare caused by lack of basic planning!
We need people with a little bit of common sense + lots of integrity + lot of passion combined with little ego – and I won’t even mention professional qualifications/capabilities!
In terms of food vendors, the less said the better – they squat, they dirty up the place, the hygienic condition of the food they serve normally brinks on health-hazard and yet they pop up on every corner (and more). Winston Churchill (I am NOT a fan of his) once called “Great” Britain a land of shopkeepers … what would be a similar expression for India: Land of delivery boys? of street food vendors? of corrupt administration?
It would be wrong to blame the administrative bodies only. Time and again we see people dumping garbage, driving on the wrong side of the road, letting their cattle stray on the streets and blocking traffic – all with impunity that can perhaps be attributed to their royal heritage – “unke baap ki sadak hai”!!
Our tacit acceptance of such conditions is the other major reason. People like myself, we complain but don’t do anything (maybe because we can’t!).
How does one address this is the question – conditions are worsening by the day and we truly need to do something about this.
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