Though the drive to remove unauthorised vendors has been continuing in the city, the vending zones are yet to come up. According to the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) officers, things would wait until the first board meeting of the new board is held. As per the officials, the drive is continuing now in full swing, removing unauthorised vendors from various areas of the city. “However, things in the direction of the new vending zones in the city must wait till the first board meeting of MCD is held,” said a senior civic body officer.
According to the officers, there are 13 vending zones now operational in the city spread over various areas out of the 22 zones. “Given the requirement of more vending zones, 10 more have been proposed by the civic body authority,” said an MCD officer.
It is learnt that it is for the MCD to provide basic facilities in all the zones, including proper infrastructure, drinking water, toilet and the like. But nothing has been done so far. Also, there are around one thousand authorised vendors selling their goods in mobile form and around 500 are stable vendors located in various zones. The rest are unauthorised and are being removed by the MCD.
The fact has also come to light that MCD has a committee ‘town vending committee’ which came up in 2017. It is meant to discuss and act for the welfare of the vendors. But it became non-functional after just one year.
Municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said, “The process of making vendors’ zone is time-consuming. We have discussed the matter with the mayor. This would feature in course of the first meeting of the newly formed board which is likely to be held in mid-February. Once proper planning of the vending zones is finalised, the process of placing them in various areas would be the next step.”
Quizzed over the ongoing drive, the officer in-charge of the drive said, “The drive has been continuing in full swing in the city since it was launched. We have a proper team which is keeping things on the move. The team comprises four inspectors and one zebra team. It is using two trucks too. We have put some control on the movement of the vendors in the vicinity of the Clock Tower and Dispensary Road.
However, it must be admitted that the vendors are inclined to move to another place once they are removed from one. The problem would be solved once we put into place proper zones for them. Currently, we have 13 zones in various areas of the city like in Lal Pul, Seema Dwar and some in the newly added wards, but more zones are required to meet the need of the situation. Once all the zone would start operating, we would develop infrastructure, drinking water and toilet facilities among others. Furthermore, we are not giving new licence to the vendors as of now. The renewal of the licence would start after two or three months.”