Our Last Trip To The Vending Zones!

Ashok Nagar Vending Zone: Meet Sahu Babu

The son of a mason, Sahu babu grew up in Bajapur in Khurda District of Odisha. In 1982, he migrated to Bhubaneswar where he supported himself by working in his grandfather’s garage.

In 1991, Sahu babu got married and moved in with his father-in-law in their village. Here he worked as a peon in a government school for free for almost 2 years. His duties included those of a technician, a peon and he was often the person in charge of logistics.

Just as he was being signed on as a full time government employee with all the benefits that would entail like a house and health benefits, tragedy struck. There was a flood and the entire village was destroyed.

This forced Sahu babu to move back to Bhubaneswar, where he struggled to find a steady source of income. At the time one of his neighbors sold fruit from a cart and invited Sahu babu to start doing the same. Left with no other choice Sahu babu started selling fruit. Here too he face many hardships in the form of harassment from the local police and the local thugs who demanded that he pay protection money.

     

When the concept of Vending Zones was introduced he saw a ray of light and approached Mr. Pratap Sahu who referred him to Mr Biren Patra, the president of the Ashoke Nagar Vending Zone.

He started the business with a loan from his family and friends and by mortgaging his wife’s gold jewelry. His assets include a television and a bicycle.

Since fruit are perishable goods and if they spoil he has to throw them away, Sahu babu keeps a small stock that he regularly replenishes on credit.

Sahu babu’s younger son is getting a diploma degree and his older son is currently working. His elder son is very interested in his fruit business but Sahu babu is not encouraging him because he feels it is not yet secure enough as the stall can be taken away by the government at any time.  

Sahu babu keenly follows the news and loves reading the newspaper. His keen intellect and sheer determination showed through in our interactions with him.

Mahavir Vending Zone: Meet Satyanarayan Pradhan

Satyanarayan Pradhan comes from a poor background. He was born and brought up in a village called Nayagarh in Orissa and faced financial constraints and monetary problems in his early life.

He has studied till eighth grade. His father’s income was so low that he was unable to make ends meet.

Pravin deep in conversation with Satyanarayan babu

Satyanarayan Pradhan is 40 years old. His father was a farmer. He has a son and a daughter. To set up a shop in the vending zone they invested Rs.10000. He took a loan on 5% a month. He has helmets worth Rs. 30000, furniture worth Rs.5000. Pradhan runs this business and has a fair understanding of business.

He is a humble guy. He works from 10 am in the morning to 10 pm in the evening. He says it is a tough and demanding job, but he enjoys it immensely. His daily sales are around Rs 3000-4000. He earns a daily profit of Rs.500-600.

One thing that he doesn’t like is that he has to buy electricity from the generator. He vocalized his dissatisfaction at BMC’s failure to provide them electricity. He said the vendors have repeatedly made complaints, but no action has been taken.

Pradhan is ambitious. He dreams to have a big shop and did not mind sharing his dream with us. He wants to be a big businessman and wants to wear suits. He owns assets like cycle and gold ornaments. He lives in the house made by his father.

He is not aware of things like life insurance and general insurance and doesn’t have any. I think after our interaction he must have understood its importance. He likes to read Samvad newspaper and says he usually spends his idle time reading. 

Ellahi Vending Zone: Meet Sheikh Amjad Ali

The son of a marginal farmer, Sheikh Amjad Ali left school at age 14, in order to earn a living for his family. He took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed a shop with the help of relatives who were already involved in street business and landed up in Bhubaneswar. 

Pravin and Sheikh Amjad Ali

He started the business around 12 years ago, with an initial capital of Rs 50000, out of which he paid a sum of Rs 18000 to BMC and rest he invested in the business.  Of the initial investment, Rs 9000 was his own capital and the rest he borrowed from his relatives. At present, he maintains stock worth Rs 80000.  His daily sales are around Rs 2000-2500, with a profit of Rs 250–400. 

He has a voter-id Card, a PAN Card and a BPL card. The assets he possesses include an ancestral house in his village, a cycle, a T.V and a few pieces of jewelry belonging to his wife. 

He understands the importance of insurance and has a life insurance policy with his wife as the nominee. When asked about savings, he replied- “kharch ke bad kuch bachane ko rahta nahi hai”. He is tensed about the future because he isn't able to save right now, what will happen when he has children. Despite his worries he is optimistic.

Mahavir Vending Zone: A Green Oasis

Ariel view of  the Mahavir Vending Zone

It was fun interacting with this young man. Located opposite the Unit 2 market, the Mahavir Vending Zone is always crowded and full of hustle and bustle. It buzzes with life and activity.

With stalls that overflow with fresh green plants the Mahavir Vending Zone is a gardener's paradise. The gardening stall are occasionally interspersed by shops selling buckets, helmets and other bright and shiny items.  

The vendors here have big, contagious smiles that makes you want to share a cup of tea with them and have a long chat. While we weren't able to do tea with them we did manage to have long winded discussions starting from how to plant begonias to how the concept of bonsai came about.

Mahavir Vending Zone: Our First Meeting

Greenery Everywhere!!

Shreeman, taking the lead!

Splashes of bright colour among all the greenery!

The footpath : Always crowded with people, two-wheelers and the occasional stray dog. 

Aditya, working his charm on the vendors. 

Pravin, connecting with Bhaina

Shiny!

Dilip Bhaina in his nursery shop. 

Ellahi Vending Zone: Making Friends!

Elahi Vending Zone, located near the Unit 2 Petrol Pump is famous for bed sheets. Just opposite the flyover this relatively small vending zone is predominantly made up of migrants from all over east India.

From XIMB to Ellahi Vending Zone

The population is mostly Muslim and conservative, but the vendors were co-operative and patiently answered all our questions. They opened up to us and shared their problems and concerns with us.

We came away with a feeling of warmth and great appreciation for these wonderful gentlemen who didn't posses much by way of material wealth but still managed to look at the world optimistically.     

Ellahi Vending Zone: Discovery!

Almost there...

Bedsheets on sale everywhere!!

Aditya taking the initiative with Bhaina

Crossing all barriers, invisible or otherwise.

Ashok Nagar Vending Zone: Our First Visit

Ashok Nagar Vending Zone is essentially a fruit market. It is located opposite “Sri Leather”, near Unit 2 market in one of the busiest parts of Bhubaneswar.  

Its many vendors conduct brisk business from early in the morning to late in the evening. On our trips we found that the vendors are friendly and accommodating when we want to have long conversations with them, they even manage to go about their business while allowing us to interview them.

Their warm smiles and attempts to communicate with us in broken Hindi have endeared them to the non-Odia speaking members of our team. In our lengthy discussions we learnt that most of the vendors in the Ashok Nagar Vending Zone would not have chosen to run a fruit shop if they had been given an alternative but they all seem to have accepted their current position in life and are making the best of it. 

Ashok Nagar Vending Zone: Fruits Everywhere!!

Who doesn't love "Nadia" on a hot summer evening??

Mahendra Kumar Behra feeling camera shy...

Cows park here aswell!!

Shreeman, introducing us to Santosh Bhaina

Craftsmen at work!

The beautiful fruit of their labor...

Just because we thought it was fun that Vijay Bhaina was selling eggs at a alcohol stall
&
because he has a contagious smile!

GyanDhara: Approval For The First Batch Of Vending Zones

The street vendors of Bhubaneswar came together formed a group and elected a leader from among themselves. Then they proceeded to submit a proposal to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. The proposal was rejected and re-submitted multiple times and they continued to struggle for a period of more than five years.

In 2007 when Aparajita Sarangi became the Commissioner of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. That’s when things finally started happening. She gave the Sangh her full support and helped in any way she could. In was during her administration that 54 vending zones were approved.

However, in the last few years work has slowed down considerably. 

Our First Stop: Nayak Babu

We decided to start our project by talking to Mr. Nayak. He is the President of the Xavier Vending Zone and, for us, a well spring of information. He kindly took the time to talk to us and answer all our questions. He even made a special effort to talk in Hindi because all of us do not understand Oriya.

We learnt about how the “Sanghathan” came into existence, how it works, who the members are and how much they had to struggle to get to where they are now. Nayak babu talked about how much pride they feel when people from other cities come to study the Vending Zone Operational Model and try to emulate them. He did however stress that there is a long way to go and many hurdles that they have yet to cross but he is hopeful and looks forward to the future.

Nayak babu was patient with us and answered all our questions, ranging from “How do you deal with the government?” to “How are relations between the leaders of the various vending zones?” and “How do you rate the vending zones in Bhubaneswar compared to the ones that have recently come up in other cities?”

Who Are We?

If you’re going to take this journey of discovery with us it seems fitting that you get to know us a bit. Our team for this project will be made up of:-

SHREEMAN PRUSTY

Our local guy

He gathers all back ground information and puts us in touch with all right people.

He's invaluable during those times when a little Odia is needed to put our interview subjects at ease and smooth things along.

  PRAVIN SINGH
  Our beloved "Bittu Bhaiya"

He’s got his finger on all things rural and developmental.

For when we need to ask probing questions about how supportive the local and state governments are of these vending zones.

  STUTI SEN

Photographer, videographer and all round documentarian.

She brings a different perspective to our outlook. As a Sociologist her interest lies in the people and how they are affected by the implementation of the program.

  

  ADITYA MARATHE

 While his good looks and charm were reason enough for us to beg him to be part of our team, he does also force us to ask important questions about the setup and operations of the vending zones.