8 years on, civic body fails to conduct survey on vendors
Leave alone removing illegal street vendors, the city Municipal Corporation has failed to conduct a survey of vendors, which is to be done every five years. The last survey was carried out in 2016.
The lackadaisical attitude of the MC has failed to serve the purpose of the Street Vendors Act, 2014, which was enacted to protect the livelihood rights of street vendors as well as regulate vending, which has gone haywire in the city. The Act mandates holding a survey every five years.
As many as 10,903 registered vendors, divided in three categories — street, essential and non-essential — were registered in the first survey conducted about eight years ago. The survey has proved to be a bane of the UT. After knowing that a survey was underway, a large number of street vendors, many from outside, started business in the city in the hope of getting a vending licence. They were allotted sites for five years and had to pay a monthly licence fee. About 3,500 are paying the fee, while more than 7,000 have defaulted on payment.
The registered street vendors were allotted designated spaces, but in the absence of any check, they run business from places of their own choice.
They were also supposed to occupy only 6’X5’ space, but most of them have encroached on much more area. In many cases, unknown persons are operating at the allotted vending sites.
Parking lots, pavements, market corridors and other open areas have been encroached on by vendors with the civic body turning a blind eye to the menace.
Chairman of the Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC) Baljinder Singh Bittu said, “A proper survey, without the knowledge of the vendors, needs to be undertaken across the city to identify vendors and how many of them are supposed to sit in particular area. On one vending licence, six people are running business at separate places. Only 25% of the registered vendors are paying the fee.”
“A huge amount of illegal money is being collected from unauthorised vendors through middlemen, while the MC is cash-strapped,” he alleged.
MC Joint Commissioner Isha Kamboj, who heads the enforcement wing, was unavailable for comment.
Mayor Kuldeep Singh Dhalor said, “I have told officers to get a survey done and will check its status.”
Last exercise carried out in 2016
The last survey carried out in 2016 has proved to be a bane of the city. After knowing that a survey was underway, a large number of street vendors, many from outside, started business in the city in the hope of getting a vending licence. They were allotted sites for five years. Around 3,500 are paying the monthly fee, while more than 7,000 have defaulted on payment.
