Bengaluru: After a long battle demanding authorisation for footpath vending by the Bruhat Bengaluru Beedhi Vyaapaari Sanghatanegala Okkoota (Federation of Street Vendor Unions of Bengaluru) is a federation of Street Vendor union, the BBMP has assured the survey of street vendors.
The President of the federation, Rangaswamy, told Deccan Chronicle that after waging a battle and with court direction, the BBMP and police have decided to jointly hold a survey of street vendors on Sunday from 9 am to 7 pm.
The first of its kind survey on the street vendors will begin at the Dasarahalli zone and the remaining seven zones will have to be completed by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the federation has been busy creating awareness among the street vendors to be a part of the survey and enjoy the benefits of the state and central government and protection from harassment by police and BBMP staff. Loudspeakers are being used to announce about the things a vendor must do. They must provide a photograph, family photograph and Aadhaar card to be registered and to get a valid licence. No family can get two licences unless they are divided, he explained. Rangaswamy pointed out that street vendors are often labelled as anti-pedestrian. However, the street vendors and pedestrians are co-dependent. On the March 4, 2014, the President gave his assent to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods and Regulation) Act, 2014. The Act not only protects our rights but also envisages the creation of a participatory mechanism to plan, protect and regulate vending in the cities – the Town Vending Committee (TVC), he said.
A minimum of 40 per cent of the TVC must consist of street vendors. One of the first activities to be done under the act is to conduct a survey of all street vendors in the cities and provide them with a licence to vencd. The survey must be done by the TVC.
Renewal: Unlike trade licence, which have to be renewed every year, the vendor licence should be renewed once in three years. The BBMP and the TVC will fix the licence fee depending upon the zone where the vendor is operating.
The city has over 1.62 lakh vendors and the survey will provided the exact numbers.
