Women’s Day: No civic facilities, only hostility for women who sell fish and vegetables along the Dal

Women’s Day: No civic facilities, only hostility for women who sell fish and vegetables along the Dal

Srinagar: The Northern Foreshore Road along the Dal Lake has several spots where women sell vegetables and fish, and though the business is good, the women have to face the wrath of civic agencies which keep dismantling the makeshift stalls that they set up.
“Will they give us some permanent space?” asked Fatima Akhter, a 64-year-old woman who has been selling vegetables for the past 33 years on the Foreshore Road on banks of Dal Lake.
Her husband and son, she said, bring the vegetables that she puts up for sale on one of the pedestrian footpaths along the road.
A resident of Akhoon Mohalla near Foreshore Road, she has 11 other members in her family.
Many other women similarly sell vegetables and fish on the banks of the lake to hundreds of customers every day. In her 33 years of business, Fatima has faced many challenges many times. The Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) often demolishes her stall and takes away the tarpaulin sheet that protests her vegetables from direct sunlight.
“We earn our livelihood here, but need some space,” she said.
Zoona is a fisher woman who lives within the Dal. She belongs to the Hanji community that has for generations been gathering fish from the lake. She, too, sells the fish on the Foreshore Road near Habak.
“There is no cover on our heads. We face the weather vagaries often,” she said. Her husband is a wholesaler vegetable seller who sells vegetables everyday early in the morning on the floating vegetable market in the Dal Lake, she said.
Zoona believes that if a woman wants to do any business, she must be aware that in her life she is going to face many serious challenges. “Many people think Hanjis are low caste and as a woman I face these types of challenges every day,” she said.
Another woman, Khateeja Begum, is 60 years old and a resident of Akhoon Mohlla near Foreshore Road. She has been selling vegetables for the past 27 years. Her husband is a vegetable farmer and Khateeja Begum sells them.
“In the 27 years that I have been selling vegetables here, no one has teased me. In summers, though, the authorities tell us to vacate and to remove the stalls. Also, the rates of vegetables go high at times and it becomes hard to deal with customers. In the last two years the business has been totally in loss due to the double lockdown. Now slowly, the situation is getting better,” she said.

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