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Street vending zone survey a wasteful expenditure by Ludhiana MC: CAG report
The report raises objections to what is perceived as wasteful spending, especially considering that over several years, Ludhiana MC has only managed to accommodate 11 percent of the vendors surveyed
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report for the years 2021-2022, which was recently made available, has brought to light concerns regarding the municipal corporation’s (MC) expenditure of ₹40 lakh on a street vending zone survey conducted in 2017.
The report raises objections to what is perceived as wasteful spending, especially considering that over several years, the MC has only managed to accommodate 11 percent of the vendors surveyed.
According to The Punjab Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending scheme 2016), each town vending committee shall survey to identify the vendors and allot them the specified marketplaces to vacate the public places as per Section 3.
CAG report highlighted that the committee had surveyed approximately 30,000 street vendors in 2017 by signing the agreement with Haryana Yuvak kala Sangam, which was completed on December 22, 2017, and the total payment of ₹50.83 lakh was to be made as per the agreement but the MC had made the payment of ₹40.15 lahk up to November 2022.
According to the report, the MC had notified 64 vending zones with a capacity of 8,989 vendors on December 3, 2020, in compliance with the Street Vendors Act, The report objected that several years after its survey, no vendor has shifted to vending zones.
Singh highlighted that this is the loss of revenue on the part of MC as there is a vending fee, which the MC can collect but nothing has been done so far. According to the report objection, there is less identification of vending zones as 20 vending zones are identified by the MC with a total capacity of 2,425 vendors against 21,725 surveyed vendors and 10,310 registered vendors. The report indicated that MC not only delayed the process of identification of zones but also identified vending zones that can accommodate only 11.39% of surveyed street vendors leaving 88.61% of vendors on congested and encroached streets.
However, MC issued a work order on September 21, 2022, officials are yet to commence the project, which was originally slated for completion by June 30, 2023, under the Smart City Mission.
The civic body has missed its deadline to establish a model vending zone, as required by the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014. Despite identifying 21,725 street vendors through a 2019 survey, the MC has failed to create the 64 vending zones designated by authorities as they had issued a work order on September 21, 2022, officials are yet to commence the project, which was originally slated for completion by June 30, 2023 under the Smart City Mission.
In 2022, plans were set to establish a model vending zone on Hambran Road, with a budget of ₹1.2 crore. However, despite issuing a work order, there has been no progress on the ground.
Sanjay Kanwar, superintending engineer, said, “The land proposed for the vending zone was not suitable due to which multiple changes have been done. We are still finding a suitable location for the vending zone”.
