{Combating illegal street vendors}
In a move to curb illegal vending in city’s heart, Sector 17, the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) is set to launch a pilot project for regulating street vendors.
As part of this initiative, the MC will install display boards for registered vendors at designated locations. These boards will prominently feature the vendor’s name, registered trade, and designated site, to ensure that vendors do not change their locations. The pilot project will even discourage illegal vendors from occupying undesignated spots.
However, the project is entirely for Sector 17 streets, and not for sector 17 shopping plaza as it is a “no-vending zone”. Currently, illegal vending continues to plague the plaza, disrupting pedestrian movement and the shopping experience in the city’s commercial hub.
As per a 2016 survey report, the city has 10,903 registered street vendors in all, divided in three categories- street, essential and non-essential. They were allotted vending sites for five years and had to pay a monthly licence fee. Out of them, only 3,595 are paying up their dues on a regular basis and as many as 7,308 registered street vendors owe a whopping ₹75 crore to the corporation and at least 2,352 vendors have not paid their fee even once.
Meanwhile, registered as well as unregistered vendors have been operating from unauthorised spaces across the city, occupying corridors, pavements, road berms and even parking lots. Sectors 1 to 6 and Sector 17 were declared no-vending zones in 2019 and only essential service providers are permitted to operate in these areas. Without being registered or paying any official licence fee to the civic body, many such vendors are operating right under the nose of the MC and that too without any fear of enforcement wing.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, registered as well as unregistered vendors have been operating from unauthorised spaces across the city, occupying corridors, pavements, road berms and even parking lots. Sectors 1 to 6 and Sector 17 were declared no-vending zones in 2019 and only essential service providers are permitted to operate in these areas. Without being registered or paying any official licence fee to the civic body, many such vendors are operating right under the nose of the MC and that too without any fear of enforcement wing.
{{/usCountry}}“The new display boards aim to streamline the process by clearly marking spots for registered vendors, thereby making it easier for enforcement staff to identify violators,” said MC officials, adding that to deter illegal vendors from Sector 17 shopping plaza, MC has even extended the working hours of enforcement staff from 8 pm to 10 pm now.
Business promotion council of Sector 17 president Neeraj Bajaj said, “ MC alone cannot remove illegal vendors from Sector 17 plaza. Police coordination is must for this task and they should be given the authority to remove the illegal vendors as and when they try to set up their stalls.”