Kochi is witnessing a steep hike in the number of street vendors, thanks to the economic crisis set off by the pandemic.
As many as 2,125 street vendors have submitted their applications for obtaining the street vending licence till Monday, the last date for submitting the applications. The high number of applicants has baffled the civic authorities as it would be a tough task to accommodate them in the vending zones to be identified for the purpose.
The applications that were received till Monday will be vetted and genuine applicants identified. Multiple applications submitted from families and the requests from those persons who have other livelihood options will be rejected. The Town Vending Committee of the Kochi Corporation, which has the representatives of various trade unions of street vendors and other stakeholders as its members, will scrutinise the applications. The draft list will also be published for verification shortly, said an official of the civic body. Incidentally, the Kochi Corporation had earlier issued licence and identity cards to 1,274 persons in the first phase. In the second set of 922 applications that were considered by the civic body, only 398 were found to be eligible for the licence. The screening of the applications was carried out by a non-governmental organisation for the Kochi Corporation, an official said. The civic body has started issuing licence and identity cards for eligible street vendors. The process had to be put on hold as the model code of conduct came into force following the bypoll announced in the Gandhi Nagar division of the local body. The identification of street vending zones will also resume once the model code of conduct is lifted, the official said. The licensing scheme for street vendors assumes significance in the wake of a recent directive from the Kerala High Court that only authorised vendors shall be permitted to do the business in the city from December 1. The court had also asked the authorities to consider the application of vendors for licence.
