MC to verify authenticity of street vendors’ survey

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

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Tribune news service

Chandigarh, January 8

The Municipal Corporation has decided to verify the authenticity of the survey of the street vendors carried out last year under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

The survey carried out by the Haryana Nav Yuvak Kala Sangam, last year found around 22, 214 street vendors in the city.

The figure was three times more than the survey done by the Enforcement Department in 2012 which had put the number to 7,500. Sources said the agency arrived at the figure after checking the vendors’ last challan list and Aadhaar cards. Their photographs were also taken during the survey.

Many residents raised questions over the high numbers of vendors as it was feared that most of them got their names included only after the survey started. Sources said the MC had constituted teams for 26 wards comprising the staff of the enforcement wing and other departments.

They have been asked to carry out a random check on the total numbers surveyed in their respective areas. In the survey carried out by the company certain parameters were fixed for the street vendors.

Only those persons were included in the list who had attained the age of 14 and not engaged in a regular public or private-sector job. Vends or stalls are not allowed near hospitals, religious places, educational institutes and fire station. One of the officers of the MC said that checking would reveal the true picture and if discrepancies were found during the checking then remedial measures would be take before finalising the vending zones.

The Department of Architecture will identify the vending zones, that is, designated places where they can carry out their trade on the basis of the report.