The first of the street vending zones under the Smart City Project of the city Corporation is expected to come up along the Napier Museum-Suryakanthi road.
The tender for the project, meant to rehabilitate existing street vendors in the surrounding regions, has already been awarded.
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act which came into force in 2014, had stipulated local bodies to issue licenses to street vendors and set up designated vending zones.
“The project is aimed at providing proper rehabilitation for the street vendors in vending zones which do not alter the look of the heritage zone or impede the traffic. We had already listed the street vendors who are to be accommodated in these vending zones. Some have set up shop here after we prepared the list. Though a few people have set up shop here after we prepared the list, they cannot be accommodated in the zone,” said Palayam Rajan, Chairman of the city Corporation's Town Planning Standing Committee.
According to an official of the Smart City project, the road will also be developed as a smart road with the utility cables being shifted underground.
Although the vending zone will take up a little more space than that occupied by the current line of shops, much of the existing parking area will be preserved.
Another vending zone is also being planned near the Chithira Thirunal Park at East Fort. A heritage street is also part of the plan. A total of 10 vending zones were identified in different parts of the city as part of a plan prepared by the Corporation two years back.
A survey of the street vendors in the city as part of rehabilitating them under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) programme began in 2015.
List of vendors
Early in 2017, a draft list of street vendors in the city, based on their locations and the nature of items sold was prepared.
The list also classified them according to the type of vending, on whether it was on land, a temporarily raised platform or cart. But the plan for vending zones and identification card for vendors has been beset with delays at every stage.