News: Over 1,000 vendors to be added to city’s vending zones-20-04-2021
The town vending committee of the municipal corporation decided to add at least 1,105 street vendors to its zones in a meeting on Tuesday, with officials reiterating their stance on taking action against those found responsible for various discrepancies and unpaid dues
The meeting, held at John Hall in Civil Lines, was aimed at scrutinising and discovering anomalies in the policy to initiate action against violators, an issue that has been in the focus since last November, said officials. The matter pertains to pending payments from three contractors who were hired for the street vending zone project.
Deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) Vijaypal Yadav, who oversees the project, submitted a report on his findings to the committee, highlighting that although the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) issued a work order for incorporating 3,452 street vendors in its street vending zones, only 1,620 vendors, 53% of the capacity, were operational.
Yadav’s report also highlighted various discrepancies and negligence on part of a retired MCG city project officer (CPO) who was in charge of the project since its inception in 2016 till last year.
MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said, “Based on the investigation report in the street vending project, appropriate action will be taken against all officials concerned found to be guilty and the action taken will be conveyed to the MCG House in the next meeting. Along with this, directions were issued to recover the remaining amount from the vending agencies. If not paid on time, criminal action will be taken against the agency concerned.”
Each street vendor pays ₹1,500 per month for stationing their cart in the MCG’s street vending zone.
Until January, each vendor paid ₹1,000 to the contractor and ₹500 to the MCG per month. The entire sum, including MCG’s share, was collected by the contractors. However, the same is yet to be deposited with the MCG.
The services of the three contractors were terminated by the MCG.
In the meeting, Singh directed Yadav to recalculate the pending amount and subsequently, initiate criminal action against the contractors for non-payment.
In Yadav’s report, it was highlighted that of the 1,620 street vendors, around 300 were found to be illegal as their original owners had either leased the carts to others or transferred the ownership to them, which is not allowed under the street vending policy. Singh directed Yadav to remove all such carts as well as those found illegally stationed across the city.
Singh said, “For all existing street vendors, the committee has decided to not collect monthly fees for May. From June 1 onwards, they have been directed to pay the money to the MCG every quarter, through digital payment. MCG officials have been directed to create a software for digital fees mechanism by June 1 for payment purposes.”
