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No funds to print certificates for vendors: EDMC
According to National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), street vendors continue to face eviction despite being recognised by the corporation in the absence of certificate of vending.
Street vendors in parts of east Delhi are facing a unique hurdle in the recognition of their vending rights-- the East Delhi Municipal Corporation does not have funds to print the certificates to be issued to them.
According to National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), street vendors continue to face eviction despite being recognised by the corporation in the absence of certificate of vending. Senior EDMC officials confirmed shortage of funds behind the delay in printing and distribution of these certificates, but added that “things will change soon”.
Several street vendors say that the process to distribute the certificates began in November-December, but hundreds of them were yet to get their certificates.
Laakhan, 42, who sells lemonade in Laxmi Nagar, said, “I have visited the corporation offices seven times and despite completing all the documentary requirements and participating in the survey of street vendors, the officials told me that they were yet to print the certificate. It has been three months now, and I am hearing the same excuses,” he said.
EDMC mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal said that the corporation is facing acute financial crisis, and was yet to pay salaries to its staff for several months. “Everyone is aware that the Delhi government has not provided us our rightful funds. This is why reunification of corporations is being carried out. It will taken one or two months for equitable distribution of resources after which the financial crisis will be over. Several essential works have been stalled, and things will change very soon,” Aggarwal said.
The Delhi government did not immediately respond to the allegation by the mayor, but has earlier maintained that it has cleared its dues to the civic bodies, and extended loans to them as well.
Richa Sinha, a spokesperson for NASVI, said that the corporation officials were just writing ‘not print’ on the photocopies of the vendors’ Aadhaar cards. “We have been officially told that the corporation does not have money for printing or sending the certificates by post. But at the same, they are continued to be targeted during the anti-encroachment drives,” Sinha said. She added that only 25% of around 4,000 vendors identified in the surveys in the Shahadra South zone of EDMC have received their certificates.
HT has seen copies of the registration slips and Aadhaar cards bearing “not print” marks.
