Silchar footpath drive: 90% stalls gone, but where do vendors go?

Silchar's new municipal corporation has cleared most footpath stalls between Capital Point and Rangirkhari. Its first big eviction drive leaves one question open: where do the evicted vendors go?

The Silchar Municipal Corporation (SMC) began the drive at about 11 am on Saturday, November 14, the deadline it had set for traders on the stretch. Two excavators and a large police contingent moved from Capital Point towards Rangirkhari and the National Highway area, demolishing shops on footpaths, Barak Bulletin and India Today NE reported.

When we reported the notice on November 11, the SMC had announced no relocation plan. That is still the main dispute.

What the mayor says

Mayor Amarendra Paul said about 90% of vendors on the stretch had moved their stalls after the notice, which was announced by loudspeaker and through the media. He blamed the other 10% for resisting, and said people with "vested interests" were backing them, Barak Bulletin and The Assam Tribune reported.

Paul took oath as Silchar's first mayor on November 5 and said clearing footpaths was a BJP civic poll promise. He argued that Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution protects the right to trade, but Article 19(6) allows reasonable restrictions, so vending in no-vending zones can be stopped.

The Capital Point-Rangirkhari road is one of Silchar's main roads. It links the city centre with Silchar Medical College and Hospital, so blocked footpaths there push patients, attendants and other walkers onto a busy road.

Protest and detentions

Members of the All India Bengali Rights Forum, a newly formed group, tried to stop the drive and demanded rehabilitation for the vendors. Police detained several protesters, The Assam Tribune reported.

Urban Acres reported that four people, including an advocate and a woman, were arrested and taken to Udharbond police station, and that work on Hospital Road was paused after the protest. The Assam Tribune said the operation resumed after the detentions. The charges, if any, have not been made public.

Advocate Soumen Chowdhury, who joined the protest, said a survey and the Town Vending Committee's involvement were needed before any eviction. Some protesters called the drive selective.

On Sunday, Raijor Dal's Cachar district president Javed Miader Laskar said his party backed a less congested Silchar, but asked where the evicted traders would go and whether any rehabilitation plan existed, India Today NE reported.

Where vendors could go

Deputy Mayor Bijendra Prasad Singh said the corporation is not against small traders, only stalls in no-vending zones. Barak Bulletin quoted him naming the area under Sadarghat Bridge and spaces on Trunk Road near Gandhi Mela Ground; The Assam Tribune quoted him naming Sadarghat and beyond Tarapur bridge, while the mayor said the SMC was still "exploring" sites. No official list of vending zones, capacity or timeline has been published.

What the law says

The protesters' argument rests on the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, a central law.

Under Section 3, a Town Vending Committee must survey all existing street vendors at least once every five years. Section 3(3) says no street vendor shall be evicted or relocated until that survey is complete and every vendor has a certificate of vending.

Section 18 lets a local body declare no-vending zones on the committee's recommendation. Certificate holders must get 30 days' notice before being moved; those without a certificate can be evicted as the local scheme sets out.

The SMC's notice was dated November 10 and gave four days, according to Urban Acres. The corporation has not said whether Silchar has an active Town Vending Committee, whether a survey was done, or whether any evicted vendor held a certificate. Those facts would decide whether the legal objection holds.

What comes next

Singh said the drive will continue in phases. A separate drive against illegal parking and sand and stone dumped on roads, with the police and the Cachar district administration, is due within days.

The SMC has run footpath drives before, including a multi-day drive in July 2025 and another in September 2025. In its first week the new corporation also suspended its accounts superintendent over alleged irregularities.

Still to watch: the official list of vending zones and their capacity, whether a vendor survey begins, and the status of those detained. We will update this story when the SMC publishes its vending zones.