Licence of 3,677 vendors suspended for 3 months in Chandigarh

Chandigarh, August 26

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The vending licence of 3,677 “habitual payment defaulters” has been suspended for three months by the Municipal Corporation.

If the pending monthly fee is still unpaid, the licence of the vendors will be terminated. The pending payment pertains to the period before Covid — up to January 1, 2020.

MC Joint Commissioner Rohit Gupta said: “The licence of habitual defaulters, who had not cleared their dues till January 2020, has been suspended. The decision regarding those who are defaulters after this date is yet to be taken.” There are a total of 10,917 registered vendors divided in three categories — essential, non-essential and street vendors. Covid-19 has apparently rendered over 6,000 registered vendors defaulters in the city. Despite getting another chance of clearing their pending licence fee by July 26, only around 40 per cent vendors could make the payment.

However, the MC is yet to decide what is to be done with those who could not pay the monthly fee during Covid. They have sought fee exemption for night food street operators and second hand car dealers. Till now, no decision has been taken in this regard.

They pay a monthly fee between Rs300 and Rs2,000 depending upon the category and the area of vending. “The MC should exempt the fee for at least the Covid period as there was no business due to restrictions,” said a vendor.

During the second wave, many vendors have left the work and gone back to their native places. Some are sitting in non-designated vending sites as they said the vending sites have no business. — TNS