Street vendors to be accomodated under town planning in Ahmedabad

Is it possible to provide designated space to thousands of street vendors under the town planning (TP) schemes prepared by the civic bodies?

The move will decongest areas and put a stop to the harassment most vendors are subjected to. The Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (Cept) is working on a project on street vendor policy for Surat city with Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA).

The project is headed by Prof CN Ray of Cept. A major aspect is whether open space or plots available with the civic body should be used as street vendor area and be included as designated areas in the TP scheme. 

“Currently, there is no provision for special vendors' area. We are studying if it could be made part of the TP scheme in Surat," said Prof Ray. 

He said the team had studied around 24 major locations in Surat city including Shanivari and Ravivari. It is estimated that Surat might have around 30,000 to 35,000 vendors. The project will involve study of usage of space occupied by the vendors and utilise the information to plan organised space for them.

“Once we get an estimate of number of vendors in Surat and the area used by them, we will get an idea of space required for them in organised street vendor area and number of vendors who can be accommodated," he said. The study, which is in analysis stage, will be completed soon.