By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 14: With hawkers overrunning several key locations in the city, a lot is left to be desired of the state government considering its vision to turn several areas such as Poice Bazar and Laitumkhrah a hawkers-free zone.
Since the MDA Government’s return to power, Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh has issued multiple timelines of relocating the hawkers from Police Bazar and turning it into a pedestrian zone. But several months have passed since the announcements, and the stretch remains overrun with vendors.
The State Cabinet had, in October last year, approved the Draft Meghalaya Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Scheme, 2023, with some amendments to regulate street vending and protect the rights of vendors.
Through this scheme, the government envisaged to strike a balance between providing livelihood to street vendors and looking after issues such as law and order, decongestion and safety of pedestrians.
Moreover, a Town Vending Committee is due to be constituted which will be eligible to identify legal vendors based on criteria like possession of EPIC card, certificate of residence of at least three years in the state.
However, three months since the approval of the scheme, the latest update on this is that a team is due to be constituted to identify vending zones and accommodate genuine vendors in those zones. This was revealed by the state government, which submitted the information before the High Court of Meghalaya.
While the state government is only looking to rehabilitate registered and genuine hawkers under the scheme, the number of hawkers and vendors seem to be on the rise in Shillong. Some places here sprawling with hawkers include Police Bazar, Laitumkhrah, Civil Hospital junction , Motphran, Jeep Stand, Barik, Polo, Jail Road, Jhalupara and Barapathar.
The recent move of the Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, who is also the MLA of East Shillong, to relocate vendors from Laitumkhrah main road to Veronica Lane was also opposed by residents.
Following the opposition, the minister is now willing to discuss the matter with the residents.