As many as 2,500 street vendors were officially identified in a ground-level survey conducted by the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation in July, as per the instructions of the State government.
Officials say that the numbers are set to increase as many might have been missed due to the pandemic and the inability of vendors to function in areas which were under containment zones.
Out of the street vendors identified in the survey, more than 600 are existing vendors who were identified in earlier surveys, while 1,800 are new vendors.
According to officials of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), which handles applications for new street vendors, the recent Government order that only those street vendors who have got licenses from the respective local bodies can conduct business might have made more people to get themselves licensed.
The surveyors have also found instances of one person owning and subletting vending carts or food trucks in different places. As per the rules, one person cannot get more than one license. The field-level survey was conducted in mid-July by a team of 40 surveyors, covering all the 100 wards of the Corporation. The increase in new applicants could also be due to the fact that more people have taken up street vending for survival, after losing their livelihood following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Some who were missed out in the survey are still coming forward and applying. The ones who were included in the older lists can easily be included once they apply, while for the new ones, checks have to be carried out. We have six more months before the list is closed and finalised. Around 200 of the vendors who were identified in 2015 have died, while some have left street vending and gone to other businesses,” said an NULM official.
The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation had last conducted a comprehensive survey of street vendors in 2015, when the number of vendors was found to be 3,498.
The disbursal of the ₹20,000 loan for street vendors is also progressing. Ever since the disbursal of the loans began last May, as many as 925 applications have been approved and amounts transferred to the beneficiary. Around 600 more applications are pending, in various stages of processing.
