NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council has ordered anti-encroachment drives in no-vending zones and action against unauthorised vending beyond 6.30 pm in high-footfall areas, officials said on Wednesday.
Vigilance and enforcement will be maintained around Connaught Place, Janpath, Palika Bazar, Regal, Revoli, Hanuman Mandir and Gurudwara Bangla Sahib. The directions were issued at a meeting held on September 14. The joint director and inspectors were directed to review enforcement and prevent encroachment.
“Vendors have been directed not to operate in non-vending zones or beyond the permissible timings, specified as sunset, or 6.30 pm, and to remove their articles from the vending site after the permitted time,” they said.
Area inspectors have been asked to identify vulnerable locations and conduct inspections, with recurring encroachment dealt with immediately.
“No covering or tarpaulin or Momjama or structure at the allotted site has been ordered,” officials said.
The order directs vendors to display their tehbazari certificates with photographs and ensure that stalls, carts and merchandise remain within allotted areas.
They have been asked to keep footpaths and roads clear and not put up coverings. Vending certificates may be suspended or cancelled for violations.
“We welcome this move. It’s a very good decision. They are going by the book, but they should sustain it,” said Vikram Badhwar, General Secretary of the New Delhi Traders’ Association (NDTA). He said, “If they sustain it, there won’t be a better place than this in India to roam around, shop as a business district and enjoy.”
Officials said intensified inspections will be conducted on Tuesdays and Saturdays around Hanuman Mandir due to heavy footfall. Only authorised vendors will be permitted in allotted spaces during the permitted period.
The NDMC warned that negligence, inaction or repeated failure by inspectors to prevent or report violations will invite strict action. A visitor to Connaught Place, Vivek, a resident of Noida, said, “I visit the area mostly to do some street shopping like buying my phone cases and I usually visit it in the evening hours, now if the street vendors are not there in the evening it will be not much of an affordable option for us.”
Nitish, a resident of Delhi, said, “The vendors are the ones who sell cheap food and goods in the area, not everyone is capable of affording the expensive restaurants and shops in the CP area.” “As an ordinary citizen, I think such a move will affect the middle class the most,” he added.