TIRUCHY: The corporation has entrusted the task of auditing street vendors in the city to a private firm.
A team would now embark on field visits for collecting details of vendors across the city and submit a report in about three months to facilitate the formation of a town vending committee, officials said.
Mentioning the firm as having commenced the process for an extensive survey on Friday, a senior corporation official said,
“Our officials would also be monitoring their work, and their team will be visiting various areas in the coming days to collect vendors’ details. The auditing would provide clear-cut information on the number of vendors on various streets. We would also get the details of the mobile vendors moving from one location to another. After getting the audit report, we would start taking steps for the formation of the town vending committee. We are expecting to get the audit report in two or three months.”
Sources said that the survey would help the corporation prevent the mushrooming of vendors in certain pockets.
"Hundreds of vendors operate in areas like NSB Road, Singarathoppu and Theppakulam. Every year, more vendors shift to these pockets for sales. We would therefore be able to frame some regulations only if we get clear information on the number of vendors in such areas. The ongoing auditing would help to get such details," a source said. Meanwhile, the vendors fear the corporation would come up with more regulations on the completion of the audit.
"We would get sales only if we do business near transport hubs and other high footfall areas like NSB Road. If the corporation comes up with some regulations for sales in such high-footfall streets, it would affect our livelihood. We are hence worried about the survey," said Imtiaz Ali, a vendor on NSB Road. However, officials said that the corporation would take steps to demarcate streets into vending and non-vending zones only after considering vendors’ opinions.
"We would decide on the vending and non-vending zones only after the formation of the town vending committee. The committee would have street vendors’ representatives. We would consider their opinion for demarcating streets," an official said.