2,100-plus vendors for second round of lottery

CHANDIGARH: By Thursday’s deadline, 2112 more seekers of street-vending sites had deposited their fee for entering a draw of lots for the second phase of allotment.

The vending zones on offer are marked across the city, but the new applicants will be accommodated only after the first phase of resettlement.

The municipal corporation is yet to count the total fee it collected but sources in the civic body said it must have made lakhs of rupees in just the second round. All of the new applicants are registered street vendors, who recorded their names with the MC during an official survey last year.

These leftover vendors had received a special chance to apply after making repeated requests to the authorities concerned, saying they had failed to deposit the fee because of personal and other reasons. Looking at their numbers, the civic authorities decided to give them a one-time relief.

The civic body has completed the first round of the draw of lots already and given away 3,000 street-vending sites around the city. It has suspended the process for the time being, since the matter is before the Punjab and Haryana high court. If the verdict is in the MC’s favour, it will start shifting the first lot of vendors and then go on to adjusting the leftover applicants.