Food for thought

Street vendors do cause a public nuisance in Guwahati. They congest the already busy footpaths in the main thoroughfares of the metropolitan city, a situation that’s even fraught with law-and-order problems as nobody in the authority knows as to who these vendors actually are.

So far there has been no survey or census or registration of vendors conducted by the GMC (Guwahati Municipal Corporation). Had there been registration of vendors or had the vendors been issued vending certificates or identity cards at least their antecedents and whereabouts would have been known? From time to time, the GMC evicts vendors who reappear after a few days as they’ve many hungry mouths to feed. The moot question is: why does the GMC rely only on eviction drives to put an end to the menace instead of taking tangible measures like census or survey of vendors, their registration and issuance of identity cards, besides allotting them specific vending zones? According to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014, vendors should be allotted vending zones so as to let them earn their honest living. However, in the current system, the GMC can just evict vendors, but cannot take any legal action against them as the civic is at fault by not issuing the vendor's identity cards and not providing them any specific vending zones. Will the GMC do what’s just and tangible to solve the menace or just continue to beat around the bush keeping the problem alive?

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