When footpath space 'is sold' & there is no shortage of customers
Ashok* (37) and his elder brother moved to the city from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, nearly a decade ago. Initially, he said, they opened a tea stall at a spot in Sadar Bazar and paid 8,000 as monthly rent to a shopkeeper who gave access to the place and another 3,500 a to civic officials to continue using the spot. They also had to pay fines during demolition drives.
The brothers worked hard to make a living, but the March 2020 lockdown forced them to leave the city in a truck and go to their hometown. When Ashok returned to Gurgaon again in December 2020, the shopkeeper had raised the ‘rent’ for his spot in Sadar Bazar by 2,000, and the officials he had a rapport with had been transferred.
Ashok initially considered an alternative site for his tea stall near Qutub Plaza, but others cautioned him about the high rent charged by shopkeepers and officials there, as well as the frequent evictions. So, taking help from a self-styled realtor, Ashok zeroed in on the footpath behind the PWD rest house to restart his ‘chai’ business.
Ashok said he was offered the site for 5,000. “He is from our village; he easily spots such places in Gurgaon. Workers who come here from our village pay him to see a site for setting up shop,” said Ashok.
Ashok set up the tea stall in such a way that 60-70% of it is on the footpath behind the PWD resthouse. The rest is on the narrow strip of land between the footpath and a parking lot in the area. But municipal drives against unauthorised stalls happen every now and then. A short rebuild later, Ashok is back in business.
The footpath vendors get 5-10 minutes to pack and flee before a demolition drive. “But it is still comparatively quieter here, and fewer people file complaints about us to the authorities that lead to the demolition drives,” Ashok said
