Seeking to give urban street vendors a “new deal”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked state governments to take steps like devising norms for reserving space for them to earn their livelihood without any harassment.
In a letter to Chief Ministers, he asked them to take personal interest in implementing the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors 2009 which aims at ensuring that they are given due recognition at national, state and local levels.
The policy was aimed at enabling urban street vendors to pursue economic activity without harassment and earmark locations where such activity was to be carried out, he said.
The revised policy underscored the need for a legislative framework to enable them carry out an honest living without harassment from any quarter, he said, adding that a model bill has been drafted to protect livelihood of street vendors and regulate street vending.
The revised policy and model bill have already been forwarded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to the states and union territories, Singh said in the letter.
The Prime Minister hoped that the states would take steps to “accord a new deal to the urban street vendors as a group who need space and facilities for their legitimate activities”.
Seeking their “personal intervention”, Singh urged the Chief Ministers to implement the revised policy and take proactive action to enact a legislation for enabling street vendors to do their trade without harassment.
