Vijayawada plans three street vending zones, hawkers oppose move

Vijayawada: Vijayawada city will soon have three dedicated street vending zones, Red, Amber and Green, aimed at enabling street vendors to conduct their business seamlessly while ensuring a hassle-free experience for shoppers and providing relief to commuters from encroachments on footpaths and narrow streets.According to available information, the street vending committee constituted by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has already finalised the vending zones across the three circles. The busy MG (Bandar) Road has been designated as a Red Zone, where street vendors will be restricted from conducting their business along this stretch. It was learnt that the civic body will soon issue a circular notifying the Red, Amber and Green zones and receive objections, if any, from the hawkers.Further, the street vending committee, also known as the town vending committee, has proposed to include many main and busy stretches in the Red Zone, prohibiting hawkers from doing their business and inviting sharp criticism from hawker unions in the city.For context, the civic body has constituted a town vending committee following the hawkers dispute at Besant Road, aiming to streamline the hawkers' businesses and create a dedicated shopping zone in the city.Hawker associations and unions alleged that the proposed Red, Amber and Green vending zones are a ploy to displace the street vendors and their businesses in the city. "For any business to sustain, it must be in such a location wherein a large number of people keep visiting that area. However, the civic authorities are trying to evict street vendors from main roads in the name of Red Zone, which would completely displace our families," Pawan, a street hawker near PVP Mall road, said."More than 30,000 families in Vijayawada depend on street vending for their livelihood, yet there is virtually no government support," Pawan said. "The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, guarantees hawkers identity cards and legal protection, but its implementation on the ground remains grossly inadequate."