Tehbazari licence holders in NDMC to get smart cards

The NDMC will issue smart cards to the registered vendors so that their identities can be easily verified during inspections. The council has floated tenders for the project which will digitise all relevant records of the licensed vendors.

Currently, verification is a problem with inspectors only having to rely on hard copies of the documents. 

Vendors often claim to have misplaced the documents or the nominees running the business do not have the valid documents.  

Space allotment of a particular vendor will also be clearly recorded in the chip. This will help avoid altercations which ensues between vendors and inspectors when they are found to operate beyond the permissible area.   

In the first phase, over 1,200 vendors with licences for tehbazari will be issued the smart cards. The smart  card or the chip will contain all the details of the licence-holders under the council’s jurisdiction.  

“This will include the name, age, address, contact number, image and name of the nominee of the tehbazari vendor. In cases where nominees have taken over the business, validating they are the owners would not be a problem,”said Neeraj Bharti, Director (IT), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

“We decided to upgrade into smart cards as hard copies often get spoilt or the vendors always do not carry the copies. It will be easy for the vendors to carry the cards with them,”  Bharti added.

The process will be carried out in a phased manner. The licences issued will vary between 1,200-1,500 in the first phase, he added.

The inspectors will be given card readers for verification of the smart cards. By facilitating easy verification, the process will be simplified for the licence-holding vendors. The details will be traced once the card is swiped.

Managing the rising number of vendors has been a problem for the council. Vendors operating without licences are more than those who are registered with the NDMC.

Meanwhile, the NDMC is also constituting a town vending committee to identify registered vendors who can be relocated under the new scheme. Representatives from among the vendors will be nominated in the committee.