GURUGRAM: Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) chief Vinay Pratap Singh on Thursday directed street vending agencies not to collect rents from vendors, a year after the contract of street vending agencies expired. He also directed them to submit records of the rent collected by them after the expiry of their contracts in September 2019.
Four agencies were given contracts for implementing the street vending zones pilot project in Gurugram and carry out maintenance of the zones. During a meeting of the city’s town vending committee on Thursday, Singh said there were reports that the agencies are still collecting a monthly rent of Rs 1,500 each from street vendors for allowing them to put up their carts in designated spaces.
“Out of the Rs 1,500 charged monthly, the agencies deposited Rs 500 to the MCG, while Rs 1,000 was their share for operating and maintaining the vending zone,” an MCG official said.
During the meeting, a proposal for extension of tenure of these agencies was also tabled, but it did not get the commissioner’s approval.
Out of the 148 vending zones approved by MCG, 58 sites have been developed completely, while 26 vending zones are not fully operational because of several infrastructural works going on in these areas. MCG officials said that it was decided that the street vendors of these vending zones will be relocated, possibly near their residences. The rest are yet to be developed.
Singh also directed that the town vending committee be reconstituted before the next monthly meeting and include those interested in working for street vending zones, which may include councillors and representatives of citizen groups.
The issue of illegal street vendors was also discussed in the meeting, and a survey was ordered to identify illegal street vendors encroaching the public spaces. It had been discussed at length in the last MCG house meeting as well. “A survey will be conducted to find out the number of street vendors currently operational in the city, check whether the vendors who were allocated the designated spaces are putting up their carts at these spaces and then ascertain the vendors illegally encroaching on the city spaces,” said an MCG official.
In the meeting, the MCG commissioner also discussed the PM Swanidhi Yojna, under which street vendors can get a loan of Rs 10,000 each on low interest rates. He also sought suggestions and objections from residents so that there is no inconvenience to them and traffic flow in the vending zones.