Tiruchirapalli City Corporation Officials on Saturday carried out an enumeration of street vendors in the city’s main commercial area around Rockfort Teppakulam in Srirangam zone as a preliminary step towards implementing the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors.
The national policy recognises street vending as an integral part of the urban retail trade and accords them legal status.
Street vendors are to be enumerated ward-wise, and each street vendor will be registered by a town vending committee and issued identity cards.
The policy recommends that municipal authorities provide a range of civic services to street vendors, including allocation of designated areas, for their trade.
On Saturday, the officials conducted the enumeration at N.S.B. Road, Nandhi Kovil Street, Vanappattarai Street, Big Bazaar Street, Singarathope, and Chinnakadai Veedhi, all on the city’s main commercial area.
The enumeration was conducted by seven teams under the supervision of B. Rengarajan, assistant commissioner, Srirangam.
However, the areas covered during Saturday’s enumeration do not come under the list of 80 vending zones identified in the city by the civic body already.
The corporation is planning to accommodate the vendors operating in these areas on the Old Goodshed Road, Sankaran Pillai Road, and at a few other places. But the move has already triggered protest from vendors’ associations.
Corporation sources said details of over 500 street vendors were recorded during Saturday’s enumeration. (Already about 800 vendors were said to have applied for registration from the areas covered by the officials on Saturday).
The vendors were photographed in front of their wares or roadside stalls. If any trader had been omitted or was not doing business on Saturday, they could apply to the corporation and their details would be included after field verification.
Enumeration of street vendors in the other three zones is expected to be carried out soon.
The corporation will form the town vending committee with representatives of vendors, as laid down in the national policy after the enumeration was completed.
