Street vendors left to fend for themselves
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Nomita Khongbantabam
Imphal, May 29 2015 :
The street vendors in Imphal whose number is legion have been agitating from time to time to assert rights their counterparts elsewhere enjoy.
Eventually the Manipur government had published a proposal for the constitution of a committee in Manipur Gazatte Extraordinary on April 1, 2015 .
The Manipur Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regularisation of Street Vending) ( Constitution of Town Vending Committees ) Rules 2015 is the proposed government proposal.
However the committee has never been constituted so far.
Officials are dodging questions as to why this has not been done or if the government will cold storage it forever.
The committee will give life support to the street vendors in extraordinary circumstances including direct foreign investment.
In normal circumstances under the impact of the DFI the street vendors will be left holding empty sacks.
The proposed committee shall conduct survey of the existing vendors once in five years.
The identified streets vendors will be accommodated in the vending zones.
They will be issued certificates.
The committee shall assist the authority in preparing Plan for the vendors, publish demands and database of the vendors.
Credit, insurance coverage on the street vendors will be also done.
In Manipur the vendors are the most disorganised lot in the sense that in absence of such government initiatives they are rudderless.
Police are also harassing them on the ground that they are causing traffic congestion.