The reply in the matter has to be filed by the contractor to the commissioner by Monday. (Express photo: Jaipal Singh)
Finding several loopholes in the survey for the allotment of vending spaces in Panchkula, the Municipal Corporation office has given the contractor that carried out the survey a time span of four days to verify and certify the vendors list. MC Commissioner Sumedha Kataria has also said that she will file an FIR if the survey results are not finalized and handed over to her soon.
On January 28, the first draw of lots in Panchkula was postponed after only a small number of street vendors of the total registered had showed up for the allotment. For a site at Sector 19 of the city, as many as 458 zones had been made. The allotment was to take place in a phase-by-phase process where the vendors of Panchkula were to get a preference.
Initially, as many 230 vendors had been identified as city residents in the survey, that was conducted in 2017 through a contractor. The biometric survey had concluded that of the total 3,718 registered street vendors present in Panchkula, as many as 58.2 percent (2166) belong to Panchkula, 13.5 percent (503) are residents of Haryana. While only 100 belong to Punjab, as many as 949 are from UT or are resident of other states.
Upon verification it was found that only 160 people belonged to the city while on the day of the draw only 80 had walked in. The MC Commissioner had then decided to postpone the process, to verify the survey that had been conducted. The reply in the matter has to be filed by the contractor to the commissioner by Monday.
The vending zones, which the local MLA Gian Chand Gupta had announced will be allotted by December end, have not been allotted even now, more than a month later. The date for the draw of lots has since been postponed atleast three times already. In January, even the process of documentation and verification of the listed vendors had started at 9 am in the morning but it was late evening that the MC had decided to postpone the draw again. The possession which was promised for February 1 was delayed.
The street vendors, who have been protesting for more than two months now, also took out a protest rally and laid siege to the Deputy Commissioner’s office of Panchkula Friday. The Deputy Commissioner reportedly, then issued a letter to MC officials, convening a meeting for the same on Monday where the delegates of MC as well as the rehri/pehri unions will remain present.
The vendors have been protesting against the anti-encroachment drives that began on November 19 since more than two months now. Protests in large numbers outside the offices of top officials of the city have continued for the whole period. The vendors have been laying a siege to the MC office for more than a month now, braving the harsh winters.
Even after several attempts by the MC officials for the removal of the vendors from outside its office, including the ploughing and watering of ground outside and requesting the DC to remove them by force and confine them to the protest site of Sector 14, the vendors have not moved.