The Kozhikode Municipal Corporation is planning to crack down on unauthorised street vending in the city based on a database comprising details of registered street vendors, which will be operational in three months.
The database will serve as a referral point for the health wing of the corporation and the police while inspecting street vendors.
‘Mithayitheruvu’
Accessible through a website and the mobile application, ‘Mithayitheruvu’, the database will contain details of the kind of trade each vendor carries out as well as the place allotted to each of them.
Any violation will earn them a black mark, which, if recorded more than thrice, will lead to the vendor losing his or her licence and ID card.
Finishing touches are being done to the website and the mobile application. “We have only around 270 more identity cards to be distributed. Once all cards are distributed and the database completed, the cards will automatically become Smart ID cards,” said K. Mujeeb Rahman, Manager (Social Development and Infrastructure), National Urban Livelihood Mission.
The corporation conducted a survey of street vendors in 2014 with the help of students of social work to take stock of street vending and to set up a street vending zone in the city. The survey identified 2,036 street vendors, of whom only 1,653 submitted documents for verification. They have been provided identity cards.
“The mobile application will be modified to suit tourists to seek out traditional food items of Kozhikode. Arrangements have been made to train street vendors in food licensing and safety,” said Mr. Rahman.
Meanwhile, the second phase of the survey has been launched and around 1,500 more street vendors are expected to be identified. “Other cities in the State have not come this far in the process. Kozhikode has the advantage of being the first to conduct the survey,” he added.
