SHILLONG: The plea of the hawkers to relocate them so as to enable them to run their businesses seems to have fallen on deaf ears resulting in the mushrooming of street vendors, desperate to eke out a living, in various pockets of the city.
Despite frequent eviction drives conducted by the District Administration the hawkers are not shy of occupying any space available in any commercial area even putting their lives in danger at times in the process.
This is seen in Motphran where the vendors occupy a space in the busy road with buses and cars plying around. They seem oblivious to the vehicles around them as they are busy selling vegetables and other items.
The Meghalaya Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2014 was passed in November 2014 after Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh had introduced the Bill in the Winter Session.
The Bill mentioned that every person who has completed the age of 18 years and intends to register for street vending shall make an application for registration as street vendor to the Town Vending Committee.
The Bill called for constituting the Town Vending Committee with the Additional Deputy Commissioner or Municipal Board Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as the chairman and the Government may nominate members to the committee representing Government departments, local authority, planning authority, traffic police, local police, association of street vendors, market association, trader association, local durbars, nationalized banks etc., as it deems proper.
The Bill states that, “The number of members representing the street vendors shall not be less than two with at least one third of such members coming from amongst women vendors.”
According to the Bill, the local authority may give preference to the registered street vendors in allotment of stalls in the vending zones.
The Bill also stated that the committee cannot reject a vendors’ application without giving the applicant an opportunity to rectify deficiencies. A registered street vendor to whom the stall has been allotted in a vending zone shall be granted a license which will be renewed from time to time by the local authority, the Bill stated.
Moreover, it was also mentioned in the Bill that the street vendors are liable for penalties if they indulge in street vending without registration, vend beyond the designated vending zones or specified timing, vend goods or offer services that are detrimental to public health among others.
It may be mentioned that the Shillong Roadside Hawkers Association had bemoaned that the eviction drives are against the principles of the Meghalaya Street Vendors Act passed by the Assembly for the protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending.
HL Shangreiso, counsel for the hawkers contended that the case needs to be disposed of as early as possible as the hawkers were facing lot of trouble due to eviction drives conducted regularly and that the State Government should relocate the vendors to a place where they can run their business without any disturbance from the district authorities.
The trouble resulting from the eviction drives has angered the hawkers who filed a petition challenging the State Government’s action before the High Court of Meghalaya on November 18.
Hawkers are seen hastily bundling items into sacks on getting information of an eviction as delay will cost them their items which are carried by the municipal authorities in collaboration with the District Administration.
EH Chen, working president of the association maintained that the Deputy Commissioner is the local authority to earmark space for vendors in due consultation with the planning authority to settle the problem of hawkers.
The vendors also argued that the Act should be implemented while also referring to Article 19 and 21 of Indian constitution which arms them “with the right to vending as a legal right”.
