Vijayawada Municipal Corporation plans to earmark street vending zones

Civic body mulling shifting street vendors to vacant land near Dharna Chowk
Vendors occupy most of the space at Besant Road in the city (Photo | EPS, P Ravindra Babu)
Vendors occupy most of the space at Besant Road in the city (Photo | EPS, P Ravindra Babu)

VIJAYAWADA:   In a bid to avoid traffic congestion by street vendors near the major junctions of the city, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided to identify separate street vending zones for the vendors to conduct hassle-free business. The vendors set up their stalls mostly on and near Besant Road, KT Road, BRTS Road, One Town, Food Junction, BSNL office in Eluru Road, Lenin Centre, Sivalayam Street, Benz Circle and other busy localities. 

On several occasions earlier, the civic body had evicted vendors for encroaching footpaths and roadsides, but these drives did not yield desired results as trade unions and Left parties backed the vendors.“About two years ago, the VMC had conducted a survey and issued identity cards to nearly 4,000 street vendors, which permitted them to conduct business. But only if the traffic was not affected or no inconvenience was caused to others,” said VMC project officer N Prakash Rao.

He further said that the number of street vendors increased gradually in the city after Amaravati was designated as the State capital. The civic body has now decided to issue identity cards to vendors, apart from the already designated 4,000. Also, no one without an authorised card will be able to carry out business. “We have involved the traffic police in the exercise, which essentially means, no street vendor with an ID card from the VMC will be able to conduct business operations on the streets,” he added.

To solve the congestion issue, the municipal corporation has decided to identify a suitable location for shifting the vendors. When contacted, municipal commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh said, “Our officials have never evicted any vendor who conducted business without affecting traffic or pedestrian movement. A team of officials from the town planning department and the city traffic police have been appointed to study all possibilities of shifting the street vendors from various places to vacant land near Dharna Chowk in Gandhi Nagar.” 

The civic body chief further said that the majority of the vendors were operating their business from one location for more than a decade, without any permanent shop. In this regard, the VMC has decided to bring the vendors together for receiving loans from the State to set up their own shops, he said, adding that officials concerned will prepare a detailed report after conducting their study. Based on the report, future action will be taken.

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