Vending sites won’t be allotted to outsiders: Panchkula MC panel

Town Vending Committee of Panchkula Municipal Corporation on Monday decided against allotting space to vendors from outside the city in its street vending zones. The decision was taken at a meeting that was held a week after the MC had postponed its draw for the allotment of the sites as it failed to get enough applicants.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Municipal Corporation Commissioner Aparajita. Joint Commissioner Simranjit Kaur, Councillor Harendra Malik, committee members Ramdev Patel, Amarnath Verma and Rajaram were also present. Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal was specially invited to the meeting.

The committee members decided that the vending sites will be allotted to only those applicants from its survey list who have permanent residential certificates of Panchkula. The MC list has 3,718 vendors and most are from outside the city. The meeting also decided exclude from the draw those vendors whose previous allotment stands cancelled.

The MC will hold another survey to identify vendors in the city. The survey will be conducted after taking permission from the Urban Local Bodies Department.

The meeting discussed that the MC had tried to conduct the recent draw for the allotment of the vending sites without calling a meeting of the Town Vending Committee, which was a direct violation of the rules and such a step was marred by suspicion of collusion.

The committee members also discussed other issues, including lack of electricity meters, water and cleaning, at the street vending zones.

The MC currently has 473 vacant vending sites. Some of these sites are in Sectors 2, 4, 8 and 15 and attract high footfall.

The MC had prepared a list of 3,718 vendors during its survey in 2017. It conducted a draw in 2020 and allocated space to 564 people. However, it learnt that some people had sublet their sites by bypassing the rules or were not entitled for the same. Therefore the office cancelled the allocation of 269 sites.