Three years after the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, came into force, stipulating local bodies to issue licences to street vendors and set up designated vending zones, the city Corporation is yet to move beyond the preparation of the draft list of vendors.
A survey of the street vendors in the city as part of rehabilitating them under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) programme began in 2015. Early this year, a draft list of street vendors in the city, based on their locations and the nature of items sold, was prepared. The list classified them according to the type of vending, whether it was on land, a temporarily raised platform or cart.
ID numbers
The draft list also allocated street vendor ID numbers to those surveyed. But various street vendors’ organisations objected to the list, saying that many street vendors were not covered in the survey.
“After the publication of the list, we had conducted a few meetings with street vendor organisations. In the initial meeting, they said, they did not have access to the list beforehand, as it was published online. Later, we gave them printouts of the list. Then they came up with objections. They have submitted new lists with the details of street vendors who were left out on our draft list. The scrutiny of these names is being carried out. We have convened a meeting next week with the vendor organisations to take this forward,” says Mayor V.K. Prashanth.
At the end of the process, street vendors will be issued identification cards so that they can avail themselves of various welfare benefits under NULM. It also involves rehabilitation, in case the shops are located in non-vending zones and also provision of other necessary facilities, including new vending carts. In recent times, no new vending carts have been supplied to beneficiaries.
The Corporation has to identify designated vending zones in all wards. Street vending will not be allowed in the other areas once this comes into force. But the local body is yet to identify such zones.
The Kochi Corporation had also faced difficulties after putting out the draft list, with some street vendors approaching the High Court against the local body’s move to evict them before putting in place alternative arrangements.
