The formation of long-pending town vending committee in the city has been delayed again as the Tiruchi City Corporation plans to take it up after the completion of the Lok Sabha elections.
A fresh survey to enumerate street vendors, which kicked off in December 2022, was completed a few months ago. An official at the level of an Assistant Commissioner has been appointed as a nodal officer to coordinate the distribution of identity cards, which commenced in January.
According to officials, 5,231 vendors were identified across the city through a GPS-enabled survey. The Srirangam zone tops with 1,911 street vendors, followed by the Ariyamangalam zone with 1,125 vendors. The Tiruverumbur, Ponmalai, and K. Abhishekapuram zones have 907, 630, and 658 vendors, respectively.
As of March first week, around 1,500 photo identity cards with details of location of the vendors were distributed. “We have taken steps to complete the distribution of ID cards this month. Measures will be taken to form the 15-member committee after the general elections to avert challenges, if any,” said a senior official.
The committee is to be constituted under Section 22 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, and Tamil Nadu Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Rules, 2015.
The Corporation Commissioner will be the chairperson of the committee, which will have the city health officer, police officers, representatives from trade unions, residents’ welfare associations, and NGOs as members. Six persons will be elected from among the traders as members of the committee.
The committee will decide on vending zones and no-vending zones in the city. Amenities, including drinking water and toilets, will be developed in the permitted zones. No-vending zones will be out of bounds for the vendors and these will be areas such as road junctions and narrow commercial streets.
At present, the Corporation does not get any revenue from street vendors. Once the committee is formed, the civic body hopes to earn about ₹35 lakh a year through the user fee collected from the vendors.
