Two years on, few takers for Panchkula vending zones

Amit Bathla

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Panchkula, February 10

Two years ago, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation had inaugurated its first vending zone in Sector 19 with much enthusiasm to kick off its plan to rehabilitate street vendors, eyeing an encroachment-free city.

Subsequently, seven more vending zones were opened in various sectors in the city to achieve the objective. In the vending zones established in Sector 2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 19, the MC claimed to have allotted a total of 778 vending sites so far. Still, street vending continues to be a persistent problem in the city.

Reason: A majority of the allottees have refused to move to the designated vending zones, citing poor location affecting their sales and lack of basic amenities like water, electricity and sanitation. Eventually, street vendors are compelled to occupy public places, mainly around sector markets, to earn their livelihood. Also, they end up in a face-off with anti-encroachment teams of the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran and the Municipal Corporation.

Take the example of the first and the largest vending zone in Sector 19, which continues to remain deserted since its inauguration in February 2020.

Other vending zones, such as the one in Sector 15, are also not completely occupied.

Vimal Rai, a cloth vendor who shifted to the Sector 15 vending zones in November last year, said he was forced to sit idle throughout the day as customer turnout remained low at his new trading site.

Previously, Rai used to set up a stall near the Sector 15 vending site. “The earlier location could have attracted customers, unlike the current one,” he said. In the designated vending sites, the MC charges Rs2,000 per month from every vendor for the occupied site.

Apart from this, they are compelled to buy a vending cart which costs them around Rs1 lakh. The absence of a loan facility makes the job tougher for them.

Bhushan, a juice vendor, said he was forced to buy the cart on instalments from the MC that put a financial burden on him.

“When I approached a bank for a loan on my own, it said I had a poor CIBIL score. Where should I go?,” he said.

Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal said despite their efforts, a lot of vendors refused to shift to the designated vending zones. He said they (vendors) have a habit of operating illegally without paying a single penny to the civic body.

“Until they change their tendency, we are bound to proceed forward with our rehabilitation policy,” the Mayor added.

Lately, street vendors, with the support of NGOs, have been regularly staging a protest outside the MC office in Sector 14 to resolve the matter on a priority basis.

The protesters claim the MC does not follow the Street Vendors Act and instructions of the High Court in the rehabilitation of street vendors.

3,718 street vendors in city

As per a 2019 survey of the MC, there are a total of 3,718 street vendors in the city, of which 58.2% belong to Panchkula.