New Delhi : Is the Kejriwal government in Delhi really for the common man, or not? The very flavour of Delhi is in the unorganised vending that takes place around Connaught Place, and what do we hear? Another attack on street vendors despite the protection of the Street Vending Act!

The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) has decided to protest against the eviction drive planned by NDMC in the Connaught Place area.

Reacting to a letter issued by the NDMC to the local SHO requesting for police force, the co-coordinator of NASVI, Mr. Arbind Singh termed the step as unfortunate and retrograde. He said that the NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Corporation) still feels that through eviction they will get rid of the vendors. The reality is that vendors should be regulated as per the Street Vending Act 2014. Instead of regulating the vendors and by means of a survey, and then putting the guidelines in place, the NDMC attitude is for eviction which not only violates the Act but also the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution .

Under the garb of High Court order which quotes from the Delhi Govt schemes as to how street vending has to be done ,the NDMC has been harassing the street vendors while neglecting the all important Section 3.3 of The Street Vendors ( Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 which clear states “ No street vendor shall be evicted or as the case may be ,relocated till the survey specified under the sub section (I) has been completed and the certificate of vending is issued to all the street vendors”.

Thus all street vendors and not as claimed by NDMC –only the tehbazari holders have the right to vend till the survey is completed.

Ever since NDMC has been declared as a beneficiary of the SMART CITY project, the vendors have been at the receiving end of attacks by the NDMC. To add to the woes of the vendors, the Delhi Govt constituted a fake Town Vending Committee without proper representation of vendors.

This has given the necessary ammunition to the NDMC in their efforts to get rid of the city. NDMC is misinterpreting the judgments’ of High Court while at the same time not paying any heed to the Street Vending Act 2014. NASVI has thus decided to take the issues to the people, says Arvind Singh.

[From a press release by NASVI]

Hindustan Times adds:

The process of making the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area a ‘smart city’ has cost hundreds of street vendors their livelihoods. It has even cost a life.

A 60-year-old vendor at south Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar market, Vinay Kumar Pandey, had a heart attack this February after some municipal officials raided his stall. They seized his documents and his stall was allegedly ransacked. That day itself Pandey succumbed to a heart attack.

NDMC was selected among the list of 20 smart cities in the country in January this year. The area is home to some of the most rich and influential in the city. Khan Market, Lutyens’ Zone and Gol Market come under the civic body’s jurisdiction.

In a bid to remove encroachments under the Smart City project,the civic body had launched a massive drive in November last year. The drive was primarily aimed at ‘reorganizing vendors’ at all public spaces, including markets like Connaught Place, Sarojini Nagar and Khan Market.

 At least 200 vendors had later moved the Delhi High Court challenging the drive. The hearing is going on for two months now.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi too had notified the national policy for Street Vendors’ Act three months ago, which has not yet been implemented by authorities.

“Areas around Rajiv Chowk come under restricted vending area. The ‘Scheme for Street Vendors in the NDMC area’ mentions that no vendor can squat in a public space or obstruct footpaths and walkways meant for public. These vendors also create a major security threat for people,” a senior NDMC official said.

Sections 330 and 225 of the NDMC Act, 1994, states that licences are to be given through the tehbazari system to vendors who apply for it along with a payment of Rs 1,000. Such licences have to be renewed every five years.

Activists and vendors stated that such mindless eviction was a violation of Section 3.3 of the Street Vendors Act. The section says that no vendor can be evicted till a proper survey of market spaces is conducted and a plan is formulated for their rehabilitation.

Arbind Singh, national coordinator, National Association of Street Vendors of India, said that Town Vending Committees need to be created with immediate effect.

“Unless an alternative is provided to these poor vendors, NDMC cannot remove them. They talk about vendors not having licences. A vendor can obtain a licence only when the council gives it to them. There are vendors who have submitted applications for licences more than a decade ago and have still not got an approval,” Singh said.

  Arbind Singh, development, naked greed, NASVI National Association of Street vendors India, national association of street vendors India, NMDC