Take care of hawkers: PM to Karnataka CM

Prime minister Manmohan Singh spoke for urban street vendors on Monday, asking all states to implement the revised National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, 2009, as a “personal intervention”.

“I would ask you all not just to implement the policy, but also to make necessary changes in the master plan and city/local area plans to make space for urban street vendors,” Singh said in the letter to all the chief ministers.

“The policy aims at ensuring that urban street vendors are given due recognition at national, state and local levels to pursue economic activity without harassment and at the same time, locations on which such activity is to be pursued are earmarked in zoning plans,” he wrote.

The policy underscored the need for a legislative framework to enable vendors to carry out an honest living without harassment from any quarter, Singh said, adding that a model bill had been drafted to protect the livelihood of street vendors and regulate street vending.

Singh said states should “take into account the natural propensity of street vendors to work in certain places where there is a demand for their goods/services or the formation of natural markets, traffic congestion and other factors”.

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 added.
PM also asked states to provide street vendors with benefit of major national social security schemes such as Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rojgar Yojana, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, Skill Development Initiative, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and National Social Assistance Programme.