With the opening of the city’s night market last year, the Yangon Region government has been cracking down on street vendors who are now operating ‘illegally’ along the streets of downtown Yangon. However, instead of working with vendors to come up with a solution so that they can keep earning an income, the YCDC has relegated some vendors to cramped side streets while forcing others to pack up their stalls on the spot with no solution as to where they can operate instead.
Although authorities have claimed that they’re working on creating additional markets for the remaining vendors who didn’t get a spot in the first one, it seems that they’ve actually done little to follow through on their word. Instead, vendors have been left out of the loop and unable to continue operating their businesses and are starting to have had enough.
Starting from Maw Tin Bridge, several street vendors who used to operate in Kyauktada, Lanmadaw, Latha, and Pabedan townships marched along Mahabandoola Road today to protest the fact that the YCDC’s new rules — or lack of rules, it seems — are severely hurting their businesses and livelihoods. Calling on the appropriate officials to hear them out and have an open discussion, the group marched downtown with red vinyl signs displaying their cause.
In a handout that was distributed to passersby, vendors wrote that they wouldn’t be against the government clearly marking out specific selling times and areas in their old neighborhoods as long as they could be allowed to operate there again.
Among their five main requests were a call on government authorities to meet with representatives of vendors who are currently facing predicaments as a result of the new laws, and to take these predicaments into account when sentencing vendors who have been arrested for violating said laws. They also pleaded that officials take into consideration their sons and daughters who rely on their income for food, clothing, and education, and consequently rectify this situation as quickly as possible.
Considering that vendors who did get a spot in the market aren’t too thrilled about their new setup either, it’s definitely time for the government to sit down and figure out a new and better solution.
After all, as great as less downtown traffic is, it’s not worth ruining hardworking citizens’ livelihoods over.
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