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Vending zones soon in city
Written By murali772 - 4 January, 2012
Civic amenities Bangalore Media Reports footpaths hawking hawker
In future, the streets and pavements should be in order, with vendors taking places allotted to them. The Karnataka Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, aims to streamline hawking by having specified vending zones and ensure convenience to pedestrians and motorists.
The city will have vending zones, vending restriction zones and vending-free zones. Pedestrian movement, cleanliness, sanitation and public hygiene would be considered while identifying them. The new policy will lead to the creation of a town vending committee, where street vendors have to register. The committee has been empowered to seize material and goods, if the vendors are found guilty of violating rules. According to the new policy, a penalty of Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 can be imposed.
For the full report in the ToI, click here
This, I expect, should be seen as a welcome development. A lot of discussions on the subject has already taken place on PRAJA, which may be accessed here. Strangely again, on a subject like this, where the civil society would have had much to say, there doesn't appear to have taken place much of public consultations.
Muralidhar Rao
COMMENTS
murali772 - 5 January, 2012 - 10:51
Ok - so, it's only a draft law after all, and the cabinet was appoiniting a sub-committee to look into it, unlike what's stated in the ToI report. Obviously, the ToI reporter has erred. Thanks Mahesh for pointing that out.
And yes, it's a contentious issue - to begin with, the definition of "legitimate street vendors" itself - and, will call for deep deliberations with all the stakeholders involved to arrive at some kind of a consensus. All the same, it needs to be pursued, and quite urgently too.
tvidya - 5 January, 2012 - 12:35
I have been after covered food courts at street corners for a long so that they are not a nusense to pedestrians nor unhiegenic. Step taken by the Govt is better than what it is now . At present the streets and footpaths are vending area for every Tom , Dick and Harry . They need to be regulated so that Streets and footpaths and open places are not used as Natioanal business areas.
Fortunately, after several years struggle, V at HMT layout, R.T. Nagar have been successful in ensuring footpaths free from vendors . Thanks to a particular Police Officer
T.Vidyadhar
Street vending - A can of worms
Naveen - 6 January, 2012 - 00:35
Policies & bills & laws are one thing, proper & just enforcement quite another - & this is even more true in the case of street vending as it is with traffic regulation.
The story so far has been one of collection of daily /weekly or monthly 'mamools' by constables decade after decade. The real challenge would be to figure out a way to minimize, if not eliminate such bribes.
As is clear from Vidyadhar's example above, good enforcement can result in objectives even in the absence of laws, but laws without proper enforcement will just remain on paper.
murali772 - 2 February, 2012 - 13:21
Traffic police chief Saleem said the fatwa will help the police and the BBMP in evicting hawkers from roads and pavements at Shivajinagar. “A fatwa is a rule which Muslims take very seriously. Ahmed's efforts are laudable. I have a copy of the fatwa with me and whenever hawkers would come to me complaining against eviction, I will show it and silence them,” he told BM.
For the full report in the Bangalore Mirror, click here.
Only a Mr Saleem can get away doing this, I guess.
Likewise, I had long back suggested that "If any one can do anything about this menace (encroachment by temples), it is the BJP government. The Chief Minister needs to show statesmanship here, make the statement that he will not allow religion to be misused in this fashion, and have all the temples removed/ shifted, where required say over one grand city-wide "Satyanarayana Pooja". Once he sets an example with the temples, it will not be difficult to convince the other religious leaders to follow suit" - check this.
Now that Mr Saleem has taken the lead, perhaps the BJP ministers should take bold to follow the example and have all the temples re-located, if required through a fatwa from RSS.
MaheshK - 5 January, 2012 - 01:05
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/216567/panel-scrutinise-draft-law-street.html
Deccan Herald has a different version on this issue. I dont think its a law yet. It has been referred to a sub-committee. I dont believe what TOI says. T sometimes stands for Tabloid. Assuming the law passes, who will monitor the vendors? Police or the BBM? Will the vendors stay in the specific place? Only time will tell.
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