After a long delay, the Mysuru City Corporation is gearing up to declare “vending zones” for supporting the livelihood of street vendors as part of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM).
The MCC has identified vending zones in zones 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 coming under various municipal wards. They were identified based on the directions from Mission Director, DAY-NULM, Bengaluru. The zonal commissioners identified the places in their jurisdictions and submitted proposals.
The MCC has now asked the public to submit objections, if any, with regard to the places identified in seven days. Objections that are submitted after seven days will not be accepted and thereafter steps will be taken to establish the vending zones at the designated places, says a release from the MCC.
The vending zones had been identified at ward number 49 (Zone 1) – on New Kantharaj Urs Road (left side of the footpath) near Ballal Circle; 56 (Zone 2) – New Kantharaj Urs Road (right side of the footpath) near Ballal Circle; 21 (Zone 4) – in front of Swimming Pool in Saraswathipuram; 20 (Zone 5) – Vijayanagar High Tension Line Road near Vidyavardhaka Engineering College; 17 (Zone 7) – in front of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bannimantap; 14 (Zone 8) – near P and T Quarters, N.R. Mohalla; and 53 (Zone 9) – on MCC property on the service road of T. Narasipura Main Road.
The Mysuru City Corporation did the exercise in its attempt to free non-hawking zones from street vendors. This is in addition to the “hawking zones” already notified. The effort is part of implementing proposals that are crucial to maintaining the city’s cleanliness.
The street vendors had been oriented about the steps taken by the MCC for their rehabilitation. Once the facilities such as drinking water and temporary shelter are made available, they have to shift to the designated areas.
In the past, there was resistance from street vendors to the MCC’s ideas. Moreover, the MCC also delayed declaring vending zones and providing facilities.
A toilet block has been built at the notified vending place near Ballal Circle but no street food vendor has shifted there. It’s not clear whether objections had been invited from the public for the same place, which lacked other facilities and vendors were reluctant to move there.
The MCC had earlier stated that it was not building permanent structures in vending zones. Facilities such as toilets, drinking water, and temporary shelters are created for the vendors to carry out their business. ID cards had already been issued to the street vendors with regard to their rehabilitation. Funds were available under the National Urban Livelihood Mission.
During the survey conducted a few years ago, as part of DAY-National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), 1,149 street food vendors had been identified. The MCC wanted to carry out another survey to identify remaining vendors. It is not known whether the survey was completed since the MCC was firm on ending unauthorised vending.
