Street vendors near India Gate in Delhi. File
The delay in completion of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s internal elections has become a cause of concern for the city’s street vendors, including those who have a certificate of vending (CoV).
Hawkers in possession of the certificate said it is of no help in preventing eviction as it does not mention a vending zone.
As per the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, the certificate must specify the vending zone where street vendors — whether stationary or mobile — can carry out their business, along with the days, timings, conditions and restrictions for the same.
However, senior MCD officials explained that vending zones can be decided upon only after the formation of a new Town Vending Committee (TVC), which will first require the civic body’s internal elections — to the office of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and of six members to the standing committee — to be completed.
The mayoral polls are yet to be conducted after three attempts — on January 6, January 24 and February 6 — to complete the MCD’s first House meeting were adjourned due to ruckus. The Aam Aadmi Party, with 134 councillors, enjoys a majority in the 250-member House, where it has been hoping to get its own Mayor.
“The constitution of the TVC will require an approval from the standing committee, and the latter is yet to be constituted. Until then, the TVC cannot be formed,” said an official of the civic body.
According to the Act, the TVC consists of a municipal commissioner — who will chair the panel — along with other members representing the local authority, the planning authority, a market associate, the police and the street vendors, among others.
“The current CoVs are provisional and we can work only based on the Act. Only in the TVC can we decide the spots for vending activities. Meanwhile, an online survey is on for vendors who were left out of the previous surveys,” said another senior MCD official.
However, Arbind Singh, who heads the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), said hawkers continue to face harassment from civic officials despite being provided with provisional CoVs. He said the association will stage an indefinite protest from February 13 outside the MCD headquarters over vendors being “evicted and frequently harassed”.
“The Act also mentions that vendors cannot be evicted until they have been surveyed and given a space to carry out their activities,” added Mr. Singh.
Responding to the observation, the senior MCD official said evictions are limited to those who “encroach on public land”.