MC to reinitiate process for setting up of vending zones
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation will initiate the process for setting up of vending zones from scratch.
Although the street vendors’ survey was conducted in 2017-18 in the city, the zones were never set up in the city. A total of 64 vending zones have been identified to accommodate around 9,000 vendors in all four zones of the city. With change in the government in 2022, these sites were rejected and now the process would be started all over again.
According to an MC official, now, once again the survey will be conducted, registration of vendors will be done and tow-vending committees will be formed afresh. Newly elected councillors have been asked to provide list of possible vending zones from their wards.
In the absence of street-vending zones, street vendors sell their articles from their carts along roads. Carts, which are stationed on roads, lead to encroachments and also cause traffic jams.
Under the Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending Act-2014, the municipal corporation (MC) is supposed to set up vending zones in the city so that only registered street vendors can sell their products legally.
Vendors have been suffering in the absence of street vending zones. “We have been demanding for long to set up the vending zones, but to no avail,” said Tiger Singh of Rehri Phari Federation.
Once street-vending zones are set up, vendors will be able to sell their products in a legal manner. They will not station their carts on roads, which leads to encroachment and traffic jams, he added.
“The MC collects composition fee from us. If we refuse to pay, the tehbazari wing takes away our our carts. If we don’t station our carts, how will we earn money for our family? A designated place should be given to us,” said a vendor near the Rose Garden.
Shambhu Kumar, a banana vendor from Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, said, “I have been selling fruits from a roadside cart for the past four years. We were promised vending zones years ago, yet not a single one exists. The authorities continue to remove our carts and impose fine on us. Whenever a VIP visits the area, we are asked to move away from the place we usually station our carts and that affects our daily earnings. We are hand to mouth and earn on daily basis and such days bring real hardship on us,” he said.
Another member of the Rehri Phari Federation further added that the MC should ensure setting up of vending zones and prioritise the protection of street vendors’ rights. “All of a sudden we are asked to move away from our place. We have customers who come to us daily and that affect both seller and the customer,” said Ram Shankar, who has a cart selling ‘chholle-bhature’ near the Civil Lines.
