SHILLONG: In what can be termed as a precursor to better days for roadside vendors and hawkers in the city, the Meghalaya Cabinet on Friday approved the Meghalaya Street Vendors and Protection of Livelihood and Regulation Bill, 2014.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, while announcing the Cabinet decision said that the State Government need to proceed with an ordinance since the Assembly was not in session.
The main feature of the proposed bill would be to safeguard the rights of the hawkers besides defining the role of the government in its approach to the hawkers’ issue.
Under the proposed bill, the State has to follow the national policy on urban street vendors which will be suitably modified in the context of the current situation in the State as land acquisition continues to be the ‘Achilles’ Heel’ for the State Government.
Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the vendors’ policy has to be implemented by the Government in compliance with Supreme Court guidelines.
According to Lyngdoh, the policy would look into the matter of schemes, setting up of town vending committees, registration of vendors and assigned duties of local agencies such as the Shillong Municipal Board.
This policy would also highlight certain demarcated areas in the city which can be converted into hawker-free zones.
Among the most prominent areas of the city, which are overrun by hawkers is the G.S. Road (from Motphran till Khyndai Lad point).
Hundreds of hawkers are seen opening up their makeshift stalls right from Motphran till Khyndailad which causes obstruction to the movement of pedestrians and even vehicles.
