Kusum Devi, who is in her late 40s will now be able to earn a respectable living by selling fashion accessories in the Atal Smriti Vendors’ Market.
“My husband, who used to sell tobacco near Kutchehry Chowk passed away recently leaving the burden of the entire family on me. Worried about what I will do to earn a living, I approached the RMC when I heard about shop allotments in the market.”
After several procedures and form filling, Kusum was lucky to get selected for allotment of a stall in the vendors’ market and was handed over the vendor’s certificate on Saturday by the State Urban Development Minister CP Singh.
“I am thankful to the government to give me this opportunity of a respectable living,” she said, with tears gleaming in her eyes.
A total of 375 street vendors of the city were handed over vendors’ certificate by the minister on Saturday. These vendors will now be putting up their stalls in the Atal Smriti Vendors’ Market situated near Jaipal Singh Stadium.
“I have been fighting for the rights of vendors long before I was the minister or even an MLA. My fight has always been for the upliftment of the poor,” said Singh on the occasion.
The AtalSmriti Vendor’s Market is an initiative taken by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation to rehabilitate the street vendors of the city and provide them a permanent vending place. Under this initiative, all the street vendors between KutcheryChowk to SarjanaChowk via Albert Ekka Chowk are to be rehabilitated to the vendors’ market.
The market was inaugurated by Chief Minister Raghubar Das in November, 2018 but could not start functioning immediately due to technical reasons.
The dignitaries present on the occasion addressed the gathering and urged the vendors to ensure proper maintenance and cleanliness in the premises.
“We will start setting up of the shops from today itself. Within a week we will shift all the street vendors between KutcheryChowk and SarjanaChowk to this market. We are also planning to come up with similar vending markets in all the four zones of the city,” said Ranchi Mayor Asha Lakra.
Deputy Mayor Sanjiv Vijayvargiya said that this initiative was taken with the aim to provide better facilities to street vendors, who till date were facing the adverse weather conditions in order to make ends meet.