The Kochi Corporation will shortly complete a survey commissioned to finalise a list of vendors who are eligible for rehabilitation in vending zones that are to be identified in different parts of the city.
This follows complaints from the police and the public about unscrupulous vendors carrying out organised encroachment on footpaths and public spaces, to the point of obstructing the safe movement of pedestrians and motorists. Many NGOs and residents’ associations too had demanded action against vendors establishing kiosks and pushcarts on even newly-laid footpaths which had tactile tiles to guide visually challenged people.
Mayor M. Anilkumar said the survey to compile a list of vendors who would qualify for rehabilitation could not be completed due to the second wave of the pandemic. “A notification on vending zones will follow. However, rehabilitation cannot be claimed as a right and only those who qualify on the basis of the survey will be rehabilitated,” he said.
Relocating eligible vendors is part of efforts to clear encroachments, stray cables and abandoned or illegally parked vehicles from public spaces.
Street trader associations welcomed the survey as a good beginning and sought early compilation of a list of vendors. “We were demanding rehablitation soon after the enactment of the Street Vendors Act, 2014. An earlier survey had pegged the number of street vendors in Kochi Corporation area at 1,980. This would have increased since many who lost their means of livelihood in the pandemic have taken to vending,” said K.A. Usman, district secretary of Vazhiyora Kachavada Thozhilali Union (CITU) and national committee member of National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI).
The vending committees at the town and district level, headed by the Corporation Secretary and the District Collector respectively, has street vendor representatives as members. It decides whether a vendor is genuine or not and issues ID card and licence. “As per the national street vending policy, vendors having ID card can be permitted to sell wares in 6x 4 feet or 5x3 feet space in areas where vending is permitted. As per a 2009 survey, 2.50% of India’s population earns a living from street vending,” he said.
Mr. Usman said that many people had multiple shops or pushcarts while some had sublet vending spaces to workers from other States. “All this is illegal and could have been prevented if they were issued identity cards following the 2014 enanctment. Non-issuance of the card also prevented legitimate vendors from availing a ₹10,000-loan at 7% interest.”
