Street Vending Plan hits a roadblock

No clear picture on the number of beneficiaries within the city limits

Even as street vending attracts large crowd, the lack of proper support to the unorganised sector is doubling the concerns of many in the field in Kozhikode district.

Kozhikode: The implementation of the Street Vending Plan (SVP) for rehabilitating street vendors in the unorganised sector has hit a roadblock, thanks to inefficiency of officially constituted street vending committees.

The initiative, which was taken up by the Ministry of Urban Affairs under the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), is yet to obtain a clear picture on the total number of beneficiaries within the city limits and plan welfare programmes accordingly.

The situation remains the same even after the completion of an exclusive survey on the population of street vendors in the city. To rectify errors in the survey, trade unions for the welfare of vendors are conducting a separate survey on the instructions of the district administration.

“Though a year has already passed after the launch of SVP in Kozhikode city, not even a single street vendor has been granted trade licence, which was one of the professed goals of the project,” says P.V. Madhavan, president of a district-level collective of street vendors affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

He points out that the plan conceived by the Centre for the welfare of vendors is yet to reach majority of the underprivileged segment in the sector. “In Kozhikode Corporation alone, the number of such traders is more than 3,000. The project will be successful provided all eligible persons, irrespective of geographical divisions, are covered,” he adds.

Trade union leaders from the city also complain that the distribution of special identity cards, promised by the government under NULM as a proof of lawful trade, too has been pending for more than a year. Thanks to the absence of a supporting mechanism, policemen often resort to unsympathetic actions and evacuation attempts, they contend.

Kozhikode was one of the 14 townships that were selected to implement SVP, which promised low interest loans, insurance coverage, and special vendors’ zone. The proposed demarcation of areas where street vending is allowed, disallowed, or restricted too has been pending with the authorities.