RailEnquiry

There is some good news for street vendors who were unhappy with certain provisions of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development, to which the Bill was sent after it was presented in the Lok Sabha last year, has recommended that Railway land be brought under the scope of the Bill. Vendors operating on Railway land were earlier kept out of its purview.Even though the Parliamentary panel “felt that exclusion of vendors from the premises of Railway land and inadequate regularisation in this regard would expose them to harassment and exploitation by Railway authorities and police”, the relief to the vendors was only limited as the panel recommended inclusion of the street vendors operating on the Railway land outside the station to be brought under the purview of the Bill.It criticised provisions of the Bill which left too much powers and responsibilities to local municipal authorities on issues vital to the interests of street vendors like identification, registration, licensing of street vendors, identification of natural markets and allocation of space.

“The Committee disapproved such delegated legislation which defeats the very purpose of Central law and wanted the Government to provide specific provisions in the Bill itself,” it said.

The panel, in its report presented on March 13, sought to empower the Town Vending Committee (TVC) in determining vending zones, natural markets and street vending zones. These three issues were of critical importance for the street vendors and they felt the Bill was not forthcoming on them. The Bill mandated the TVC to have 40 per cent of representation from street vendors.

The panel wanted the Government to ensure that “street vendors must not be asked to undergo cumbersome procedure” for their registration.

It recommended that any one of the easily accessible documents such as voter ID, PAN card, driving licence, Aadhaar card, ration card, electricity bill or telephone bill to be sufficient for enclosing with the registration form.

The Sharad Yadav-headed Standing Committee has also provided relief to vendors on the issue of their eviction and relocation. The Bill had a provision for their eviction after seven days of notice period. It recommended the period to be increased to 30 days and eviction to be done after consultation with the TVC.

The committee has suggested that the “relocation of street vendors is made in such a way that they are able to carry on their old business”.

It recommended that “there should be zone wise grievance redressal mechanism for quicker disposal of grievances”.


Parliamentary panel flays Bill’s provisions which give too much power to local municipalities

“Empower Town Vending Committee in determining vending zones, natural markets etc.”