The National Advisory Council is expected to make suggestions on the issue of having a central legislation to protect the livelihood of over one crore street vendors across the country.
The advisory panel, headed by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, is understood to be examining the Model Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill in this regard.
The Government had earlier favoured that States take the responsibility for effective implementation of the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors contending that a central legislation in this regard may not be effective.
In a communication to the NAC, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) had contended that if protection of street vending was left to the states it was unlikely that they would enact a legislation.
They said the first policy on street vendors was formulated in 2004 and still such persons were being harassed and evicted mercilessly in all urban areas.
“The national law can give the policy a logical conclusion which has to be implemented at the ground level,” it said, adding that the model bill proposed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) fell short of the aspirations of the street vendors.
The NAC had sought details on the policy from HUPA following communication from NASVI.
It said that HUPA had circulated the draft bill in this regard to all the state government and many of them had also prepared draft legislations.
The ministry said it would continue to vigorously pursue with states the implementation of the national policy on street vendors and has welcomed suggestions from the NAC to sharpen the spotlight on the matter.
