Patiala MC fails to implement no-vending zones plan

Month after the Patiala municipal corporation (MC) declared as many as 28 prominent locations as no-vending zones in city, the civic body has failed to implement

Month after the Patiala municipal corporation (MC) declared as many as 28 prominent locations as no-vending zones in city, the civic body has failed to implement the same decision on ground level.

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On December 5, the MC had included 28 areas to its list of no-vending zones, including Chotti Baradari, Mata Kaushalya Hospital road, bus stand roundabout, Leela Bhawan road, Nabha Road Chowk, Thapar traffic lights, mini-secretariat road, Khanda Square, Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib, road opposite MC office, Sheran Wala Gate, Lehal Square, Qila Mubarak road, Kohli Chowk, Parshuram Chowk, YPS road, and Modi College road.

However, a random survey of these areas revealed that the street vendors continue to create chaos and cause inconvenience to commuters.

“The move is aimed at providing relief to residents and commuters from traffic snarls caused due to encroachments. However, nothing has been done on the ground level due to objections by the association of street vendors,” said an official of the enforcement wing.

No takers for street vending

Inaugurated with much fanfare over four months back, the MC’s street vending plan seems to have failed to take off.

Punjab sports minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur had inaugurated the first phase of the new vendors’ market under the vending plan for rehabilitation of street vendors, on August 14, 2019.

The civic body is under a legal obligation to accommodate street vendors under provisions of the Street Vendors’ Act, but the project is in a limbo since more than five years.

An official, pleading anonymity, said that the project was delayed as the municipal corporation had failed to get approval from the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for construction of shed at the new vendor market.

“In such a scenario, the civic body has not directed the identified street vendors to shift to the new place, as it sans basic facility including garbage treatment plant, sheds, parking lot and toilets,” an official said.

Under the vending plan, as many as 400 street vendors were to be rehabilitated at the new location, which sprawls in over 2.5 acre. Shifting to this market will help people to purchase household items from one designated place.

Patiala mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu said that the delay has been caused due to high tension wires crossing over the market. “As an alternative, the MC is going with open the market, work related to construction of parking areas and peripheral wall has already been started,” he said.

He added that vendors from within the city operating in no-vending zones will be shifted at the new place, which will help to unclog traffic chaos. “Second phase of the project will begin soon after vendors start operating from a stipulated area,” the mayor said.

As many as 4,025 street vendors were identified by the private consultants hired by the MC for systematic implementation of the policy.