The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Wednesday submitted an affidavit to the Gauhati High Court mentioning the demarcation of 81 "street vendor zones" to accommodate over 6,000 vendors.
The affidavit stated that 6,465 street vendors in Guwahati will be accommodated in a phased manner and the process will be overseen by the Town Vendor Committee. Moreover, they can also avail loans under the PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors.
This comes after two PILs were filed with the high court regarding the accommodation of street vendors. The matter has been in courts for the past eight to 10 years.
Notably, in March this year, GMC had notified 81 vending zones across various locations in 41 out of 60 municipal wards of Guwahati to accommodate these vendors.
The vending zones were notified under Section 18(1) of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 to eradicate haphazard street vending from the city roads, GMC officials had said.
Out of 81 designated vending zones, 75 have been notified as “free vending zones,” three as “mobile food vending zones,” and two as “time vending zones,” operating between 4 am and 9 am. Additionally, one zone has been designated as a “fruit vending zone” near the round circle in Ward Number 28 in the Bhangagarh area, which will accommodate 14 fruit vendors.
The “mobile food vending zones” are located at Milanpur in the Chandmari area near Cotton University and at Lachit Ghat in the Fancy Bazar area. Lachit Ghat has also been designated as a “time vending zone,” operating from 4 pm to 10 pm, while another vending zone on Tarun Ram Phukan Road in the Machkhowa area will operate between 4 am and 9 am.
A GMC official told TOI that for selecting these vending zones, “zonal vending committees” were formed in six zones—Central, Dispur, East, Lokhra, South, and West—in December last year. These committees, which include ward councillors, local vendors, and civil society members, proposed a total of 130 vending zones, selecting two to three zones from each of the 60 wards. These proposals were then submitted to the “Town Vending Committee” (TVC), which includes vendors, GMC officials, police officers, and civil society members. With the TVC’s approval, 81 out of the 130 proposed vending zones have been notified, while the remaining zones are still under consideration and may be added after further review.
The official further mentioned that only vendors who have received financial grants and are registered under the “PM SVANidhi scheme” will be allowed to operate in the notified zones. Depending on the specific needs of each zone, the GMC will provide basic amenities such as electricity, toilets, and drinking water after assessing the requirements.
