Town Vending Committee to be set up to regulate vendors in Noida

NOIDA: As part of implementing the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, Noida Authority will soon form a Town Vending Committee headed by Gautam Budh Nagar District Magistrate to work out details such as earmarking vending or hawking zones in the city. The move comes following Uttar Pradesh cabinet approval of policy for vending zones in January last month, which was followed by a gazette notification of the policy earlier this month, Noida Authority officials said on Thursday. Noida Authority will now draw up terms under which vendors will operate and fees for a licence, penalty in non-vending zone, among others. Street vendors and those who move from place to place to carry out their business activity will be regulated through the Act.
Key features of the policy include declaring roads as no-hawker zones besides charging vendors for carrying out business. “Under the policy, periodical survey to assess number of vendors, their registration, demarking areas for them and declaring no-hawker zones will be done. Maintaining vendors’ spots and avoiding misuse of those spots besides fixing a time frame for carrying out their business will also be fixed," said Sandeep Chandra, Chief Projects Engineer (CPE), Noida Authority.

According to Noida Authority officials, the DM will soon decide the beneficiaries of the 117 vending locations earmarked. “A total of 1073 spaces or seating in each work circle has been decided and forwarded to the DM for further action and for deciding on the beneficiaries of these seats,” said Chandra. “Now we will send the DM a proposal fixing a timeframe for vendors to carry out their business, rates will also be fixed as per the area of vending,” he explained.

Chandra further said that hawkers move on roads and encroach road space causing traffic congestion in many areas in the city. “They will not be allowed to vend in groups. We will arrange their vending spaces in such a fashion that the clusters are small and do not cause any congestion and ensure free flow of traffic besides also causing less inconvenience to the public,” he promised.

Aiming to regulate traffic by reducing congestion caused due to unauthorised operation of squatters on roadsides, the Noida authority had in June 2014 approved an Uttar Pradesh industrial (hawkers) traffic regulation guidelines in its 183rd board meeting and sent the same to UP government for approval. In May 2016, the authority had made some amendments as per the instructions of the government and sent the same to the government again. The policy had been pending approval since then.