Vendor registration starts today

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 20

The Municipal Corporation will finally start vendor registration process from tomorrow. With this begins the process of shifting out vendors from Sector 17, which has been declared a no-vending zone by the UT Administration.

Enforcement wing officials were today asked to inform the vendors, whose names were recorded during a survey conducted last year, to get themselves registered during the camp lest they should lose the opportunity.

MC Additional Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta confirmed that they are going to start the process tomorrow.

Street vendors in Ward No. 2, comprising Sector 12, 14 and 15, will be registered at the MC office in Sector 11 from 10 am to 3 pm on Tuesday. For Ward No. 3, which comprises Sector 16, 17 and 22, registration will be held from November 22 to 27 at the MC office in Sector 17. The registration process for the 26 wards will go on till November 29.

Vendors surveyed last year have been called to get themselves verified and registered to obtain licence to vend.

Since Sector 17 has been declared a no-vending zone, the vendors sitting there will be shifted to other locations. For selecting alternative location, a draw of lots will be conducted by the corporation.

Shifting of vendors from Sector 17 will come as a heartening move, not only for traders but also for residents, who had to bear chaotic scenes in the heart of the city, Sector 17 Plaza, for over a year as the Administration and the MC failed to resolve the issue till today.

For Sector 19 and 22, the MC will issue licences to 150 vendors each. In other sectors, those identified in the survey and get themselves registered will be given licenses.

For essential vendors, including washermen, barbers and tea seller, and mobile vendors in the city, the registration process is already complete and they have been given vending certificates.

The civic body has divided the city into three vending zones. In Category A, street vendors, essential vendors and mobile vendors will have to pay Rs 2,000, Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,000, respectively, as a monthly vending fee to the civic body. In Category B, street vendors, essential vendors and mobile vendors will pay Rs 1,000, Rs 500, and Rs 800 per month, respectively, and in Category C, Rs 800, Rs 300 and Rs 500, respectively. Besides, they will have to pay one-time ID card and vending fee certificate cost of Rs100 each.