BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will conduct a survey in the Capital to identify the number of street vendors based on which the State Government will take measures to rehabilitate them.
The decision was taken following a directive by the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department in which all the urban local bodies (ULB) were directed to enforce the Street Vendor Policy, 2012. According to the policy, every ULB should have its own Town Vending Committee (TVC) and street vendors should be issued a Vendors Registration Card (VRC) on completion of their identification.
BMC has been credited for its vending zone concept by the Centre. Originally, 46 vending zones had been set up across the Capital City of which four had to be demolished to make way for road expansion. Last year, the BMC had proposed to conduct a survey to determine availability of land for rehabilitation of street vendors. But the survey was not conducted nor was there any follow up action for the evicted vendors.
Even though the Capital has a TVC comprising representatives of vendors from across the city, it has been dormant for more than a year. The members of TVC are supposed to meet every month to discuss the scope of their rehabilitation. However, as the civic authorities are yet to initiate any dialogue, the TVC has not met after its first meeting in 2013.
The municipal corporations have been directed to ensure that all street vendors are registered by the civic authorities. The process should be completed within four months from the date of issue of the policy guidelines. After the registration, the vendors would be allowed to operate in the area assigned to them.
According to the Street Vendor Policy, 2012, the vendors are supposed to pay the Corporation a basic fee for amenities provided to them.