In a first, a special scheme will be designed for vendors (the informal sector) in Ahmedabad on the lines of the National Street Vendors Policy. The Centre for Environment Planning Technology (CEPT) is designing the scheme and submitted their first draft to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Monday.

Following a PIL by SEWA, the Gujarat High Court had directed AMC to develop a scheme for city vendors and hawkers. The AMC handed over the charge to CEPT three months ago.

Madhu Bharti of CEPT, who has been working on the scheme, said they undertook an extensive research to first find out the dimension of the problem, identify and address the issues, and come up with measures to integrate vendors in the city’s system. The CEPT study shows that there are nearly one lakh vendors in Ahmedabad. Moreover, the National Street Vendors Policy too shows that Ahmedabad has a large hawker population.

She added: “The national policy clearly says that vendors should not be displaced and their livelihoods shouldn’t be threatened. The informal sector including the vendors is an integral part of a city's economy. The issue of vendors involves multiple laws - Police Act, Town Planning Act, and the like. But in this city, the Town Planning Act has not recognised this human issue.”

She added: “But the HC has looked into this issue in a very humane manner and has asked for a scheme that integrates them with the city and doesn’t consider them as encroachers. This would be the first time that a special draft is coming up for the vendors.”

... contd.