The process of issuing licenses to street vendors and setting up of designated vending zones in the City Corporation is now stuck without any progress being made in recent months. The latest activity on this front happened late in October last year, when dates were fixed for the distribution of identity cards for the first set of street vendors, numbering around 1,400.
But this programme for distribution at the Corporation level was cancelled as the State Government had plans for a state-level inauguration, after the completion of the identity card registration process in few other districts.
Two months later, the identity cards are yet to be distributed. The recent transfer of the National Urban Livelihood Mission project co-ordinator also seems to have affected the smooth progress of the project for street vendors.
“The co-ordinator was transferred last month and we are yet to get a replacement. So, there has been some delay in the issuing of identity cards and in identifying proper vending zones. In the first phase, we had prepared identity cards for around 1,400 street vendors, which will have to be distributed soon. After that, over the past few months, we have received hundreds of new applications, all of which will have to be vetted now. Police verification is also part of the process. If someone doing vending business in Palayam is staying in Nedumangad, he or she will have to get an NOC from the local station near their house,” says R.Geetha Gopal, Chairperson of the Corporation’s Welfare Standing Committee.
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act which came into force in 2014, had stipulated local bodies to issue licenses to street vendors and set up designated vending zones.
A survey of the street vendors in the city as part of rehabilitating them under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) programme began in 2015.
Early in 2017, a draft list of street vendors in the city, based on their locations and the nature of items sold was prepared.
The list also classified them according to the type of vending, on whether it was on land, a temporarily raised platform or cart.
Rehabilitation
At the end of the process, street vendors will be issued identification cards so that they can avail various welfare benefits under NULM. It also involves rehabilitation, in case the shops are located in no-vending zones and also provision of other necessary facilities, including new vending carts.
