Kohima, September 24 (MExN): Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) today appealed to the State government to adopt Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, which came into force from May 1, 2014.
NVCO president, Kezhokhoto Savi in a statement maintained that the Central Act will create an atmosphere conducive for street vendors to do their business in dignity and provide livelihood protection to them, especially the local people in the state capital while selling their local products.
The salient features of the Act, it said, is that it provides for constitution of a Town Vending Committee (TVC) in each local authority, which is the fulcrum of the Act for implementing its provisions.
It has been provided that 40% members of the TVC will be from amongst street vendors with due representation from SC, ST, OBC, Minorities and persons with disabilities, of which one-third shall be women, pointed out the statement from NVCO Press & Media Cell.
In order to ensure participatory decision making for aspects relating to street vending activities, the TVC will be involved in activities like determination of natural market, identification of vending zones, preparation of street vending plan, survey of street vendors, etc. To avoid arbitrariness of authorities, the Act provides for a survey of all existing street vendors, and subsequent survey at-least once in every five years, and issue of certificate of vending to all the street vendors identified in the survey, with preference to SC, ST, OBC, women, persons with disabilities, minorities, etc, NVCO stated.
It further mentioned that according to the Act, no street vendor will be evicted until the survey has been completed and certificate of vending issued to the street vendors. All existing street vendors identified in the survey will be accommodated in the vending zones subject to a norm conforming to 2.5% of the population of the ward or zone or town or city, it stated, adding the mechanism is to provide universal coverage, by protecting the street vendors from harassment and promoting their livelihood.
The Act also provides for promotional measures to be undertaken by the Government, towards availability of credit, insurance and other welfare schemes of social security, capacity building programmes, research, education and training programmes etc. for street vendors, it added.
Meanwhile, the Act provides for protection of street vendors from harassment by police and other authorities and includes an overriding clause to ensure they carry on their business without the fear of harassment by the authorities under any other law.
NVCO also mentioned about ‘Support to Urban Street Vendors,’ a component of ‘National Urban Livelihoods Mission’ (NULM) which aims to address the vulnerabilities of the urban street vendors through a multi-pronged approach.
The NVCO urged the Government of Nagaland to introduce Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act especially in Kohima Town.
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