Vendors protest violation of Act

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, January 9: The regulatory compliance of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and  the stipulations made in the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, according to Guwahati vendors, are seriously out of sync.

In protest against, what they said, rampant violation of the Act, the street vendors of Guwahati took out a procession from near the Guwahati Railway Station to the office of the Kamrup (M) Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum to the police today. Demands raised by the street vendors include immediate stop of the eviction drive being conducted against them in the city, obeying the directives of the court, making all arrangements for rehabilitation of all evicted vendors and not going ahead with the survey of various roads where vendors have been evicted till the evicted vendors are properly rehabilitated.

Talking to newsmen in the city, Street Vendors’ Association of Assam (SVAA) president ren Rajbongshi said: “After rigorous agitation by the vendors, the Centre ected the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. By ecting such an Act, the Centre has legalized street bending as a means of livelihood. However, the GMC is violating the Act and evicting vendors rampantly in Guwahati, pushing many families towards uncertainty. We want the immediate stop of the eviction of vendors and the evicted vendors should be properly rehabilitated. We’ll go on fighting till the vendors’ rights are protected.”

Meanwhile, at a time when the GMC has been talking of clearing roadsides through the eviction of vendors, there are allegations of some people collecting Rs 30–40 in the me of the GMC from each roadside vendor and fast food eatery and Rs 150 on Sundays in the Beltola area in the city. Such reports are proof enough to say that what the GMC says are seriously out of sync with what it does. All these are taking place under the very nose of the district and the police administrations.

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