Munch on sanitised Indian street food

NEW DELHI: No more roadside stalls selling piping hot jalebis and samosas, nor any more vendors parking their carts anywhere and selling gol guppas. With the Supreme Court accepting the municipal corporation of Delhi's (MCD) scheme for urban street vendors, Delhi roads sans their famous street fare are set to get a new look.

Fixed vending sites and fixed timings for selling, which could be changed depending on the weather conditions will be implemented. The Supreme Court has, however, asked the MCD to re-consider timings as far as the railway and the bus stands are concerned since these places remain busy all the time.

Also, timings for vendors to enter residential colonies will be fixed after consultation with the residents welfare associations. The timing for vendors in general has been fixed from eight in the morning to nine at night.

While approving the scheme Thursday, the apex court directed the civic agencies to strictly maintain the width of the footpath up to five feet for pedestrians before allotting any site for vending.

Reactions to the scheme, which is expected to change the face of the city, have been varied. While most hawkers insist that this move will snatch away their source of livelihood, others say it will help the city.

"I survive on the street food because I simply can't afford anything else," said a rickshaw puller. "I earn about Rs.100 a day of which half goes in paying for rent of the rickshaw, so I survive on the road side samosas and puris," he added.

"Delhi is known for its street food. Frankly I can't imagine eating gol guppas dripping with saline mineral water," said Pankhi Singha, a student.

But for others, it is a welcome move. "Finally there will be some order on the roads of Delhi," said Amrita Sharma, a law student. "On one hand we are trying to become a global city and on the other we have maddening traffic, choked roads and no lanes to walk. Moreover, maintenance of minimum standard of hygiene is of utmost importance," she said.

Welcoming the apex court's nod of approval, Vijendra Gupta, chairman of the MCD standing committee said this decision would help nearly 250,000 people earn a livelihood without getting exploited.

In a statement released Thursday, Gupta said that MCD gives licenses to hawkers and a survey carried out by an NGO, Manushi, revealed that unlicensed hawkers get exploited by policemen and municipal employees who extract money from them. Hence this policy will help protect those hawkers from getting exploited.

It also said that 'the benefit of the hawking policy will be given to those which are carrying out hawking at present and it will be ensured that in future their number shall not increase so that city-planning of Delhi is not disturbed'.

While the capital prepares to have specific hawking zones, P. V. Suvrathan, secretary of ministry of food processing industries, announced that a pilot project enforcing bureau of Indian standards (BIS) norms on street food will be launched in eight cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Targetting 6,000 vendors in each of the cities, to begin with, the project aims to have vendors follow certain minimum standards in food preparation, which will ensure basic hygiene.

From washing their hands to washing the used cutlery properly to ensuring only clean water is used for cooking and even a standard size of serving is maintained, the norms will ensure the hygiene factor.

"Only after all these standards are met, the vendors will get accreditation," said Suvrathan. Since training the vendors, most of who are illiterate, is a mammoth task, NGOs will be roped in for the task. This will help the vendors file their application for accreditation with ease.