Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation vendors' policy makes little progress

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) street vending policy has been moving at a snail's pace. The policy was announced in 2016 but a survey to identify the vendors is yet to be completed. Amid huge fanfare, the corporation announced the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 on October 2.

However, officials claimed the corporation had identified 28,408 street vendors and issued ID cards to them. The corporation has demarked 96 free and partial vending zones in the city. It had also formed 219 common interest groups (CIGs) and provided loans of Rs 19.25 lakh. The officials also said Rs 80.75 lakh have been sanctioned under Self-Employment Programme (SEP) and Mudra schemes for 203 street vendors. About the delay in implementing the policy, the officials said that the corporation have been seeking consent from vendors, politicians and other local organisations to avoid legal disputes. The officials further said that another attempt would be made to create vending zones by forming town vending committees (TVCs) at circle-level.