2,831 vendors lose licence over dues

The Municipal Corporation (MC) has cancelled the licences of 2,831 street vendors for not paying vending fee even once after they were allotted sites in vending zones. A total of nearly Rs 47 crore is to be recovered from these defaulters.

The MC took the decision after the vendors failed to pay the dues even after the expiry of one-month notice period.

The MC had issued a public notice on November 7 giving the last opportunity to the defaulters to deposit the outstanding amount with penalty within a period of 30 days, which expired on December 6. Only one street vendor has cleared his dues.

The MC has cancelled the licences with immediate effect and started the proceeding for recovery of the outstanding amount as per law.

The city has 10,903 registered street vendors in all three categories —street, essential and non-essential — who were registered after a survey in 2016. They were allotted vending sites for five years and had to pay a monthly licence fee. Of these, only 3,595 have been paying the levy regularly.

According to officials, more than 50% of the 2,831 street vendors were allotted the vending sites across the city. The MC instructed the enforcement staff to ensure that these vendors did not run business from the allotted sites or set up stalls at any other location in the city.

Meanwhile, the MC has decided to conduct a draw of lots for all registered non-essential service provider (NESP) vendors, who have not been allotted any site to date. A decision to this effect was taken at the Town Vending Committee meeting held on November 7. The MC has also granted one last chance to all defaulters to deposit their licence fee dues so that their names could considered for the draw of lots. However, the MC has clarified that no vendor will be considered eligible for the draw of lots after December 27.