Tirumala hawkers caught in political crossfire
Update: 2024-06-20 19:25 GMT
Tirupati: Licences of 151 hawkers having stalls on Tirumala have been caught in a crossfire between the Telugu Desam and YSRC, putting their livelihoods in jeopardy.
The hawkers, whose licences have not been renewed since 1990s, have continued to operate their stalls, receiving assurances from various governments that their licences will be renewed. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board had initiated the process of renewing these licences when Bhumana Karunakar Reddy was its chairman, along with making the necessary changes in their licences pertaining to transfer of licences, shops and houses in Tirumala.
However, with change of guard at the state level and the TD-Jana Sena-BJP alliance assuming power, local TD leaders of Tirumala and Tirupati are now alleging that most of these 151 hawkers are cadres of the YSRC. They are pressurising the TTD authorities to cancel licences of the existing 151 hawkers. They want authorities to instead allot these stalls to Telugu Desam supporters.
"We have been operating these stalls for four decades. The previous government assured us that our licences would be renewed,” Ramesh (name changed), a stall owner near the Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Bhavan. "However, with the new government coming to power, our future has become uncertain,” he said.
YSRC leaders say these hawkers are locals of Tirumala and Tirupati, with many being legal heirs or those who bought licences from Tirumala locals. "These are not illegal encroachers. They had been operating with licences issued by TTD. But these licences have not been renewed since 1990s due to negligence of the TTD panchayat and revenue wings," a YSRC spokesperson clarified.
The TTD authorities had recently transferred shops, live hawker licences, and houses in the names of legal heirs and others who are purchasers of licences. However, they had not considered the cases of these 151 hawkers, leaving them in a precarious situation.
These families have appealed to Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan and the TTD authorities, led by executive officer J. Syamala Rao, to do justice to them.
"We demand a transparent renewal process and protection of our livelihoods," said a hawker from the Varaha Swamy Guesthouse area. "Many of us are legal heirs of Tirumala locals, some of us being YSRC supporters from Tirupati. We should not be made victims of political battles," he remarked