Street venders protest in Sector 20, Chandigarh, on Monday. (Jaipal Singh)UP IN arms against the street vendors bylaws, over 500 vendors staged a protest in Sector 20 here Monday. The vendors then marched towards the office of UT Adviser and MC Commissioner to submit their representation.
The street vendors stated that they will wait till January 5 for their demands to be met, else they would gherao the office of Municipal Corporation on January 8. Ram Milan Gaur, president of the Chandigarh Street Vendors Association, said, “There are several issues against which we are holding our protest. In the first place, the area of vending sites earmarked are really small. They are just 5×6 foot per vendor, so we are demanding that it must be made around 8×8 foot per vendor.”
The vendors added that many of the genuine vendors of the city have not been included in the survey. “The survey has not been carried out in a proper manner. There are vendors who have been sitting here for the last 20 years but their names have not been included in the survey,” Gaur said.
Though a delegation of vendors could not meet UT Adviser Manoj Parida and Commissioner K K Yadav, they gave their representations in their office. While protesting, the street vendors stated that their fellow vendors who have been allotted vending sites in different sectors in the first phase , will not sit on the earmarked sites until the Municipal Corporation listens to them.
Geeta, general secretary of the Street Vendors Association, stated that though they had peacefully cooperated with the corporation in its first phase of draw, the vendors won’t sit on the allotted sites until they are heard. “We won’t cooperate in the second phase of draw now. Our demands should be met by January 5,” she said. In all, 1,270 registered street vendors have been allotted sites among a pool of 5911 sites in 42 vending zones in 40 sectors and areas in Chandigarh in Part 1 of Phase -I.
The MC has identified sites measuring 5×6 foot per vendor. There are 6,692 vending sites identified in the city. There are 9,500 registered vendors, but out of them, around 3,000 are defaulters who not paying vending fee to the corporation. So the actual number of vendors comes out to be around 6,500, according to the MC.
The vendors are also opposing these stringent provisions, which form part of the notified bylaws. As per the notified bylaws, penalty for unauthorised street vending will include seizure of goods without return and a fine of Rs 10,000. In case of a breach of bylaws committed by the authorised vendors, the first-time violation will attract a fine of Rs 1,000, second offence Rs 5,000 and the third offence will be punishable with a fine of Rs 5,000. Subsequent violation will lead to suspension of the vendor’s licence.
