MC clueless on illegal vendor count in Chandigarh

Only 4,035 vendors are paying the requisite monthly fee to the Municipal Corporation even as a significantly large number of vendors are operating in the city. As per the information provided by the civic body, there were 10,939 registered street vendors in the city. Out of them, the licences of 6,904 have been cancelled for violation of terms and conditions or non-payment of fee. The MC does not have any information on the number of illegal vendors. The MC provided the information following questions asked by Senior Deputy Mayor Jasbir Singh Bunty. The information will be placed before the General House during its next meeting, which is scheduled for June 3. Bunty sought to know from the civic body the number of vendors in the city and how many of them were paying fee. He had also asked for information on the number of licences cancelled till date and the number of vendors operating illegally. In reply, the civic body stated that the department concerned had no list of illegal vendors. To another query, the MC replied that a survey of vendors was conducted in 2016 (from July 18 to August 31) and no such exercise was undertaken thereafter. The MC stated that the Town Vending Committee shall, within such period and in such manner as may be specified in the vendors’ scheme, conduct a survey of all existing street vendors, within the area under the jurisdiction and subsequent survey shall be carried out at least once in every five year. On another question that whether vendors can operate from outside vending zones, the MC stated that as per Bye Laws 2018 Clause 18 under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act-2014, essential service providers would operate from their allocated areas or where they had been surveyed until and unless they were not violating any norms of the Act. Non-essential service providers were allowed to operate only from the vending site allotted to them through draw of lots. Bunty said he had sought the information to highlight the issue of street vendors. He said a large number of vendors were operating in the city without licence and selling ice cream, sugarcane juice, etc, on vehicles. He said to his another query, the MC replied that vendors, who were issued licence to sell ‘Kulcha Chholay’, ‘Chana Amritsari Naan’, were not allowed to place tables and chairs in front of their stalls as they had to operate only within their vending area of “5×6". He said the situation on the ground was however different. “One can see chairs and tables used by such vendors in almost every market,” he said. The Senior Deputy Mayor said he would raise the issue in the upcoming House meeting. He said the MC must check whether the vendors whose licence had been cancelled were operating from the site earlier allotted to them. He demanded that a fresh survey of vendors should be conducted in the city.

Chandigarh