New Bathroom rules irritates Vendors

The headquarters of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Lower Manhattan was an interesting site on Tuesday as more than 20 vendors gathered there to protest against the policy, which states that the vendors cannot leave their carts even for bathroom breaks.

The health department’s rule which became effective from the first of this year states that unattended carts can lead to their owners permits being seized on the spot and that any mobile food vending unit which is left unattended or which a vendor might have abandoned is to be considered a hazard. According to the acting deputy commissioner Daniel Kass this is nothing new but just a modification of the department’s practices.

The vendors had all gathered to protest against the seizure of Mr.Mohammed Shirajul Islam who’s a roasted peanut seller from Bangladesh who’s a father of four and who depends solely on the money he gets from selling peanuts to support his family.

Mr.Islam suffers from a tumor in his colon, which causes him to take a longer bathroom break than usual. According to him, he had gone to the restroom for around 20 mins after which he returned to his vending cart to find that his permit had been scratched off by a blade. It will take almost a month for him to get back his permit and which will cost him around $150 daily.

The health department in its defense stated that an inspector had waited for close to an hour and made calls to his supervisor before scratching off the permit on Mr.Islam’s cart.

Sean Basinski, director of the Street Vendor Project defended the vendors saying that this was a cruel policy and that vendors couldn’t always get a friend to look after his cart when they went for a bathroom break.

The vendors believe that a more humane approach should be adopted and  think the public should agree as well.

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