Street vendors protest over allotments made

NOIDA: Even as the Noida authority is in the final stage of issuing licences to street vendors, a handful of vendors, who were dissatisfied with the allotments made,

NOIDA: Even as the Noida authority is in the final stage of issuing licences to street vendors, a handful of vendors, who were dissatisfied with the allotments made, resorted to a protest in Sector 6 on Tuesday.

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Over 400 vendors started a protest at 11am and it ended only at 4pm, after the authority assured them to look into their issues.

Vendors demanded that the date to accept forms be extended, suitable sites be allotted, and licence fee be reduced, among others. One of the key demands of the vendors is that they should be allowed to operate at the site where they were doing business for the past so many years. However, the authority has objected to them operating along roads as their business hinders the smooth flow of traffic.

“I have been operating in Sector 10 since 1984 and have been peacefully earning my livelihood. But my name is not included in the list of successful candidates. This protest is being held to request the authority not to disturb our livelihood as our families depend on these kiosks,” Manju Rani, a vendor, said.

“We refused their demand to reduce the licence fee from ₹2,400 as around 1200 successful candidates have already deposited the fee. But we have extended the fee submission date by a week as per their demand. We have issued allotment letters to 2,472 applicants of whom 1,208 have deposited the fee. We will identify new sites and allot them soon,” Indu Prakash Singh, officer on special duty, Noida authority, said.

The authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari has directed the staff to identify new sites by December 13 and organise a draw on December 17, 2019.

The vendors also filed complaints stating that the authority staff was not making proper allotments and was harassing vendors. “We will look into these complaints and address the issue,” Singh said.