Street vendors are all set to get ‘protected areas’ to carry out business without bothering residents in each neighbourhood. Chennai Corporation will start the first comprehensive enumeration of street vendors as part of regulating street vending.
Following a meeting this week, the civic body has decided to rope in residents, police and representatives of vendors to identify such protected spaces.
Civic body officials will identify the dominant trade among vendors in each neighbourhood before finalising a protected space. “We will also offer alternative options of trade for the vendors to sustain their livelihood without affecting any residential neighbourhood. Decisions on the rehabilitation of vendors will also depend on the data generated in enumeration,” said an official.
Earlier enumerations by the civic body were restricted to a few neighbourhoods. The drive to evict street vendors in areas such as T. Nagar has not been successful as it reportedly affected the livelihood of over 5,000 people who depended on the business.
Representatives of vendors have been requesting the State government to implement the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, and take steps to form town vending committees. The eviction drive carried out so far in the city has not complied with the Supreme Court’s orders on the creation of such committees to regulate street vending activities.
Fifty percent of the members of the vending committee will be representatives of vendors. Civic body officials, members of residents’ associations and the police will also be on the committee.
Welcoming the move to enumerate street vendors, advisor to Unorganised Workers Federation R. Geetha said the street vendors were helping residents by selling goods at cheap rates. “There are more than one lakh street vendors in the city. The main trades include the sale of fruits, flowers, vegetables and plastic products,” she said.
“In Kolkata, two-thirds of a pavement is earmarked for pedestrians. One third is earmarked for vendors,” she added. Residents’ associations have however voiced concerns about misuse of ‘protected spaces.’
