The Delhi government has intensified efforts to regulate over six lakh street vendors by issuing a fresh notification to help civic agencies collect monthly charges from them and remove encroachments.

Once fully operational, the scheme may yield crores of rupees for the financially ailing municipal corporations.

The government’s notification dated January 7 has outlined the way forward for the clearing of footpaths of encroachment and harassment-free access to livelihood for the registered street vendors.

In the notification, the regulation plan is called the NCT of Delhi Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of street vending) Scheme.

Vendors have been divided into three categories. The first category is that of static vendors who sell their wares from the same location every day.

The second type are weekly market vendors who move to a new location on each day of the week. The third category includes all mobile vendors who do not occupy any public space or stock their wares. 

Depending upon the category of colony in which the static street vendors operate the monthly rent to be collected from them may range between Rs 5,000 and Rs 200. Weekly market vendors have to pay between Rs 2,500 and Rs 300 a month and mobile vendors between Rs 750 and Rs 300.

The vendors shall require a civic certificate of vending – valid for three years – and
a street vending licence which shall be valid for nine years.

According to officials, the civic agencies need to conduct extensive surveys in their areas to assess the capacity of street vending zones and enlist the existing vendors before allotting space to certified vendors.

The government has also cleared the decks for use of satellite- based location details of vendors who are stationed at one point, an official said.

The Urban Development Department also plans to facilitate the constitution of Town Vending Committees in all civic agencies. The functioning of these committees will be monitored by the State Town Vending Committee, which shall be headed by principal secretary of the UD Department.

The licence to operate from street would be issued to vendors only after assessing each location from the point of view of security, conservation, traffic situation, public order and the wishes of the local residents’ welfare or market associations.

The Town Vending Committee would notify popular zones with high demand among street vendors and a roster shall be followed there.