Relief to vegetable, street food vendors in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: The urban local bodies department of the Chandigarh administration has made significant amendments in the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bylaws, 2018 by providing relief to different vendors by placing them under the essential services providers (ESP) category.
With this move, hundreds of city-based vendors will not be dislocated from their original places to designated vending sites and will be able to sit at their respective places to carry on with their business.
According to fresh orders, besides cobblers, tea vendors, milk and bread sellers, barbers, dhobi, now fruit and vegetable vendors, tandoor vendors, roadside chhole bhature/kulche chhole vendors, parantha sellers and florists sitting only outside religious places like temples and gurdwaras have been added in the ESP list.
Since the number of these vendors is high, it has come as a major relief for them because most of them have been doing business at their own designated places from past 10 to 15 years and thus they have regular customers.
“Initially, the matter was raised and passed in the town vending committee (TVC) meeting after a detailed discussion. Members of the TVC went through the representations of these vendors and later assessed the practical viability of their vending areas and the matter was then sent to the urban local bodies of the UT and from there it went to Governor-cum-UT administrator. After going through the entire exercise, the administrator approved the amendments and now the UT sent the same to us for issuing notification and for subsequent implementation and we have started the process for the same,” said an official of the MC.
Besides the said amendment, another crucial amendment has been done, where transgender community has also been added in the vendors’ category. The move has been taken to provide them licences, so that they can run their livelihood by by following guidelines of the Government of India.