Street Vending Remains an Unregulated Activity in Guwahati

Guwahati News Desk: Street vending syndicates thrive in Guwahati in absence of adequate enforcement of existing laws. They are given allotment on places of busy roads and lanes to ply their trades not by civic or municipal authorities, but are being run by organised gangs active across large parts of the city.
The organised gangs operating under these syndicates manage different areas and streets in the city, and they are paid a substantial initial amount by anyone wishing to open a roadside vendor temporary stall. Hence street vendors are allotted a place ‘on rent’ to sell their products or services in return. All this is possible because of the fact that the Street Vendors Act of 2014 remains on paper and has not been implemented anywhere in the city.
Talking about the current status, GMC commissioner Devasish Sharma said, “Few street vending zones are already identified and few more will be identified soon.” The solution cannot be derived only by GMC because when the Corporation designates vending zones to the street vendors, they do not go to their allotted zones and instead reoccupy the very places where they are evicted from in the first place, he added.