Shillong, April 14: The Meghalaya and Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers and Street Vendors Association today met with the Chief Secretary, Smt. Rebecca Suchiang, to submit and discuss modalities of implementation of the Central law on Hawking and Street Vending.
This meeting was in light of the recent stand taken by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs on the subject Implementation of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee found that the provisions of Meghalaya’s state law on hawking was repugnant to the Central Act and recommended that the Meghalaya government should notify the rules for the Central Act at the earliest.
The Association feels a sense of victory that their long struggle to ensure rule of law has been recognized. The association had since 2016 petitioned the state govt. to implement the Central Act. Unfortunately, several Urban Affairs ministers and Chief Secretaries chose to remain indifferent to the legally sound demands of the association resulting in the loss of precious time in better organising Shillong city such that it becomes an inclusive city that supports life for all.
It is sad that the Govt. of Meghalaya has once again been caught on the legal back foot by the Union government. This situation could have been avoided if the bureaucracy and the political class had listened to the local voices.
While demanding the implementation of the Central act, the association has once again submitted a detailed draft rules and schemes under the central Act as well as detailed plans for a survey, calculation of the holding capacity, lawful identification of Vending zones to the chief secretary with the hope that there won’t be any further delay in implementation of the central law on street hawking and vending.