On September 15, 2025, Visakhapatnam city underwent a jarring transformation under the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation’s (GVMC) massive anti-encroachment initiative “Operation Life to Urban Green Spaces (LUNGS) 2.0.” Once-bustling thoroughfares and commercial streets lay buried beneath jagged steel sheets, shattered wood panels, and the remains of dismantled stalls and shops. The city’s pulse—its vibrant street markets, food courts and trade hubs—had been abruptly silenced, displacing hundreds of people from their livelihoods.Also read: GVMC clears 1,053 encroachments in Visakhapatnam in two daysThe corporation’s claim of reviving the city’s urban spaces was soon met with resistance in the form of protests by displaced street vendors, joined by members of workers’ unions and left parties. By 10 a.m., they assembled near Mahatma Gandhi Statue opposite the GVMC office, the city’s renowned protest site, and soon the air was reverberating with slogans against the corporation and the State government, “accusing them of snatching away livelihoods in the name of urban beautification.”Among the crowd was K. Geetha, seated with her six-year-old daughter in her lap. Geetha and her husband had been running a tiffin stall in Kancharapalem for eight years, but now their world collapsed overnight, said Geetha with tears in her eyes. “We have a bank loan to repay. Every day we clear ₹1,000 debt, besides school fees, household expenses, and bills. Where will we get the money now? How are we supposed to survive or does the government want us to end our lives,” she questioned.Also read: GVMC pauses Operation Lungs for DasaraTriggered by the evictions, many emotionally shattered vendors pleaded with officials for relief, while others hurried to clear their belongings before the earthmovers began their work. The most affected area was reportedly city’s popular night food court at the Old Jail Road. A bustling hub that began with around 30 to 40 food stalls has grown over time to nearly 180 stalls, allegedly mostly unauthorised.Stating that the GVMC’s eviction drive hit the licenced vendors, Mr. Srikanth, a graduate who ran a licensed food truck here, said, “Instead of dealing with unauthorised vendors, the GVMC has thrown out the 40 licensed ones. Our case is pending in the court, yet they removed us under the pretext of public safety and sanitation. How is this justified?”Even though the GVMC has not released an official number, the workers’ unions estimate that at least 10,000 families have been directly or indirectly financially hit since the eviction drive commenced.