Delhi government to identify all street vendors, create database

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will soon undertake a drive to identify all street vendors across the city and create a database.
The survey will be carried out by recently formed town vending committees (TVCs), which were elected by street vendors and hawkers themselves. TVCs, which will work for the rights of the vendors and create permanent vending zones, also have representatives of the NGOs working for street vendors, community-based organisations and resident welfare associations nominated by the government.
TVCs have been formed under Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014, which seeks to provide social security and livelihood rights to street vendors.
Though Delhi is estimated to have close to 4.5 lakh street vendors, only 1.3 lakh had registered themselves with the erstwhile MCD and NDMC in 2007. The civic agencies, however, found only 12,000 of them genuine and allowed them to vote for TVCs. Accprding to the organisations working for street vendors, TVCs have a massive task of adding vendors so that new programmes and policies could be made to provide them security and livelihood.
According to a study, 2-2.5% population of a city is estimated to be earning their livelihood by running temporary shops on roads and pavements in commercial and residential areas or on movable carts and are often harassed by civic agencies and police. Many of them are also evicted from areas where they have been putting up shops by paying requisite fees for several years.
Bipin Rai, a member-expert of Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, said TVCs would be given training on their role, rights and powers by government agencies as well as experts from the organisations working for street vendors. Following this, TVCs will start the survey. The Delhi government is likely to make an app for the GIS-based identification of vendors.
“This is the first time in the country that TVCs have been elected at the state level. Though these are ad hoc committees having been elected for only six months, another election will take place after adding more vendors,” Rai said.
Arbind Singh, national co-ordinator of National Association of Street vendors of India, said forming TVCs was an important milestone in implementing the Act. “It will be mandatory for the government agencies to take recommendations of TVCs while making any scheme for street vendors.”