CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation has announced plans to establish zone-level sub-committees for the Town Vending Committee. The sub-committees will include zonal authorities and 10 representatives from the vending committee to ensure discussions on vending and non-vending zones are addressed at the local level. It was also decided that the corporation will provide a sitting fee of Rs 1,000 each to committee members, and a common office space will be arranged for regular meetings.
In 2017, the city had 15 vending committees, one for each zone, tasked with monitoring and verifying street vendor plans. However, concerns were raised regarding the lack of proper meetings or discussions between district-level authorities and committee members. An election held in 2023 led to the selection of a 15-member unified committee. Street vendor representatives from the committee said encroachment evictions are occurring without their knowledge. However, a senior corporation official said that there is no legal mandate requiring encroachment evictions to be discussed with committee members.
To streamline the process, it was decided in the meeting held last week, zone level sub-committees will be formed to address local issues related to vending and non-vending zones, which will then be discussed at the district level with the corporation commissioner, the official said.
In the last week, with the help of a third party, a drive was conducted to verify authorised and unauthorised street vendors in which around 33,000 vendors have been identified as authorised vendors. They will be getting ID cards that cannot be replicated. Meanwhile, as members requested the sitting fee as per the Act, which had not been paid for the previous four meetings, the corporation commissioner approved a payment of Rs 1,000 per meeting, along with arrears for the previous meetings.
K Balaraman, a TVC street vendor representative, said they have requested to ensure vendors are relocated to alternative sites before eviction from non-vending zones.
“The party worked hard to include street vendor representatives in discussions on evictions, relocations, and zone identification. Hope, the commissioner’s initiative to form the sub-committee will address these issues,” CPM district secretary G Selva said.