Centre mulling Bill to recognise vendors

It is a ‘‘legitimate’’ business and the Centre would like to recognise it as one in form of a model Bill on urban street vendor rescuing them from daily drudgery and harassment from the cops and the local bodies.

It is a ‘‘legitimate’’ business and the Centre would like to recognise it as one in form of a model Bill on urban street vendor rescuing them from daily drudgery and harassment from the cops and the local bodies. Even give this ‘‘informal sector’’ access to bank loans.

Announcing one of more of the aam admi legislations, Minister of State for Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said that disappointed with the lukewarm responses of the state, the Centre is going ahead and bringing a model Bill to include in the process of urban reforms.

Making it a two-way initiative terming vending a cheaper option of providing goods and services to the common man, Selja said, ‘‘There is a need to focus on the plight of the urban street vendors and work towards some mechanism so that they can earn their livelihood in a legal manner without facing harassment from urban administrators, extra-constitutional elements and the enforcement agencies.’’

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Citing SEWA Trust’s model adopted in Ahmedabad where the vendors, local traffic and technical inputs of School of Architecture and Planning, Selja said it is a classic way of striking a balance between upkeep of urban infrastructure and interests of the street vendors.

Broadly, the Bill proposes to demarcate vending zones where they can conduct legitimate business without obstructing traffic flow or creating congestion. Specific low-cost infrastructure resembling tradition Indian haat bazaar- like the Dilli Haat could be an option.

A Central policy on the street vendor have been pending since the time of the previous NDA government. Though similar announcements were made on how their business would legistimise the policy never got the Vajpayee Cabinet’s nod. While most state government failed to respond, the Left Front government in West Bengal under pressure from the World Bank not only removed all street vendors from Kolkata pavements, but also rehabilitated them in separate markets.

Now the UPA Minister says given the pace of urbanisation and the opportunities presented for development of urban areas, the growth of street vendor population was likely to have an upward trend. So, ‘‘under such circumstances, the plethora of police and municipal laws shall only result in greater number of street vendors operating from across the line of legality,’’ which needs to be streamlined.