Delhi govt first in country to implement Street Vendors Act, says CM Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that Delhi government has become the first government in the country to implement the Street Vendors Act.

"Street Vending Act was passed in 2014. The law was good but it was never implemented in the country. Delhi government is the first government to implement it. Under that law, Street Vending Committees have to be formed. These committees have already been formed in Delhi. The notification has been passed in this regard," the Chief Minister said while addressing a presser here.

Lauding the contribution of street vendors and hawkers in economy of the city, Kejriwal said, "Hawkers play an important role in any city. In other countries, there are some laws which is why they are orgsed and there are no traffic or cleanliness issues due to them. In Delhi, street vendors, hawkers play an important role in city's economy as well as its daily life. It won't be an exaggeration if I say they are the lifelines of Delhi. If they stop working for a day, the life in Delhi would be in turmoil," said Kejriwal.

The Chief Minister also said that street vendors were facing harassment due to not being orgsed and not have any legal status.

"There are two problems. One is related to them that they are thrown away anytime, their goods are seized by departments anytime, bribes are taken from them. Second, since they are not orgsed. So we see that leads to traffic congestion since a large part of the road gets covered," he said.

Elaborating on the structure of the Street Vending Committees being set up under the act, the Chief Minister said that each such committee will have 30 members, out of which 12 will be elected.

"There are a total of 28 Town vending committees in Delhi. There was a meeting yesterday with all three municipal corporations and they have been instructed to start the meeting of their respective town vending committees within a week," he said.

Kejriwal further said that under the act, there has to be a survey to identify the places which are used by street vendors and their pictures will be clicked.

"The corporations have been told to try and complete the survey within a month. Those street vendors who were excluded in the last few years, they would be included in this survey," said Kejriwal.

The Chief Minister said the street vendors will be provided with a certificate which will act as their legal status and stop their extortion.

"However, the street vendors can't change their spot once this is done", he added.

( With inputs from ANI )