PM for 'new deal' to urban street vendors

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Seeking to give urban street
vendors a "new deal", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday
asked state governments to take steps like devising norms for
reserving space for them to earn their livelihood without any
harassment.

In a letter to Chief Ministers, he asked them to take
personal interest in implementing the National Policy on Urban
Street Vendors 2009 which aims at ensuring that they are given
due recognition at national, state and local levels.

The policy was aimed at enabling urban street vendors to
pursue economic activity without harassment and earmark
locations where such activity was to be carried out, he said.

The revised policy underscored the need for a legislative
framework to enable them carry out an honest living without
harassment from any quarter, he said, adding that a model bill
has been drafted to protect livelihood of street vendors and
regulate street vending.

The revised policy and model bill have already been
forwarded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation to the states and union territories, Singh said in
the letter.

The Prime Minister hoped that the states would take steps
to "accord a new deal to the urban street vendors as a group
who need space and facilities for their legitimate
activities".

Seeking their "personal intervention", Singh urged the
Chief Ministers to implement the revised policy and take
proactive action to enact a legislation for enabling street
vendors to do their trade without harassment.

The states could take steps to restructure master plan
laws and city/local area plans to make them inclusive and
address the requirements of space for street vending as an
important urban activity, he said.

"Suitable spatial planning norms for reservation of space
for street vendors in accordance with their current population
and projected growth may be devised," he suggested.

States could use demarcations like 'Restriction-free
Vending Zones', 'Restricted Vending Zones', 'No-vending Zones'
and 'Mobile vending Areas' in every city and town, he said.

This could be done taking into account the natural
propensity of street vendors to locate in certain places at
certain times in response to patterns of demand for their
goods and services or the formation of natural markets,
traffic congestion and other factors in view, Singh said.

The States also could take steps for convergent delivery
of various programmes like Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rojgar
Yojana, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Prime
Minister's Employment General Programme, Skill Development
Initiative, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and National Social
Assistance Programme, he said. PTI MS
SDE
NNNN