Street vendors protest over pending surveys

They also cite discrepancies in CoVs

The National Association of Street Vendors of Delhi (NASVI) held protests in several parts of the city on Friday over the issues of pending street vendor surveys and discrepancies in the certificates issued to vendors.

Richa Sinha, NASVI’s advocacy manager, said the certificate of vending (CoV) issued by Delhi’s three municipal corporations – North, South and East – “does not clearly state the site of vending”.

‘Increased harassment’

“The MCDs went back on their word and said that the CoVs were temporary. There are other problems such as no clear mentioning of the vending category and the vending type that is permitted. This has led to increased harassment of the vendors by authorities as the certificates are unclear,” said Ms. Sinha, adding that the protests were held outside the offices of six Zonal Deputy Commissioners.

NASVI, in a press note, said the Town Vending Committee (TVC) — which oversees the survey of street vendors — had not conducted the surveys for Lajpat Nagar, Nehru Place and other areas despite crossing the deadline.

“Time and again the offices of Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the zone have hijacked the workings of the zonal TVCs. Even after orders from the High Court of Delhi to conduct sincere surveys of Lajpat Nagar and Nehru Place markets, the zonal office has purposefully not complied, leaving the vendors helpless and vulnerable,” the press note read.

As per the data provided by Delhi Street Hawkers Survey as of December 12, conducted by the Government, 76,301 hawkers have been identified across the city and 61,444 have been approved.

The Delhi Government had decided to extend the survey period till December 7 to identify more street vendors after multiple appeals by municipal councillors and street vendors’ associations.

Responding to the claims of the vending certificates remaining unclear, a senior civic body official said that a “subsequent TVC” will be constituted “in the coming year after which the site of vending will be identified”.

“The BJP-led MCD conducted surveys and issued vending certificates, due to the pressure from the Delhi Government, but they did not allot the site of vending because the certificate exercise was an eyewash,” said South Delhi Municipal Corporation Leader of Opposition Prem Chauhan of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Source: Read Full Article