Telangana: ID cards issued over 63,000 street vendors 

HYDERABAD:  The Telangana government told the Hyderabad High Court that it had taken steps to formulate a scheme for ‘street vending’ and for implementation of provisions of the Street Vendors (Protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending) Act 2014. Accordingly, it conducted a survey of all the existing street vendors and till now, 67,313 street vendors have been identified in the state and identity cards were issued to 63,373 of them.

In this regard, the state, represented by joint secretary to municipal administration and urban development V Venkateshwarlu, recently filed a counter affidavit before the division bench comprising ACJ Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi. The bench was dealing with a petition filed by G Ganesh Singh complaining of officials’ interference in his business being carried on the street margins in Cyberabad and seizure of his movable items such as cooking vessels, stoves.

He sought court directions to Telangana government to implement the above Act and the scheme of street vending in the state. The government, in its counter affidavit, denied the petitioner’s allegation that no town vending committees were formed in the state. With regard to formation of PSV (Plan for Street Vending), it will be prepared after completion of survey in all the local bodies, including municipal corporations, in the state.