Visakhapatnam’s anti-encroachment drive | Caught between changing cityscape and shattered livelihoods

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 days

The 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’ un