A Day- long Workshop on Understanding the Street Vendors in the Context of Nagpur City

The Street Vendors Act 2014 gave hope to street vendors for “ease of doing business” and for the protection of their right to a respectable living.

However, eight years since the Act was enacted the struggle for survival continues and protection from vulnerabilities remains a challenge. In this regard, Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) had organized a day-long Workshop on “Understanding the Street Vendors in the Context of Nagpur City”. The workshop was held at Hotel Heritage, Nagpur on August 3.

The workshop was guided and facilitated by the Humane, Dy Municipal Commissioner, NMC, Pramod Khobragade, Vinay Trikolwar from DAY-NULM, Jammu Anand, President, Maharashtra Hawkers Federation, and Nitin Meshram, Project Coordinator, YUVA.

In the introductory remarks Nitin Meshram from Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) said – Street vendors have been around for as long as civilization. There has been no city ancient or modern without trading their wares informally and Indian cities are no exception too.

We had natural markets and Mandis and without vendors it’s hard to imagine a city as major part of the city depends on these vendors for affordable goods and services, despite being a crucial part of the Indian economy, the harassment continues in the absence of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) Humane, Dy Municipal Commissioner, Nagpur shared his views on Implementation of Street Vendors Act-2014 and Status of Town Vending Committee (TVC) in Nagpur city which is long pending with the State Government. He said there are around 50,000 – 55,000 vendors in the city and NMC is committed to conduct surveys and reach out to every vendor in the city for the registration.

He also emphasized the importance of structure hawking zones and creation of markets in participation with systems and various stakeholders.

Pramod Khobragade and Vinay Trikolwar from DAY-NULM shared the schemes introduced by the government for street vendors. Jammu Anand, President, Maharashtra Hawkers Federation has built the capacity of the vendors on the Street Vendors Act 2014 and its provisions. He also highlighted the ongoing and pending cases in the High court.

In the workshop Street Vendors voiced their on ground concerns. The workshop was attended by representatives of Nagpur Zilla Path Vikreta Sangh, IGSSS, Aravind Dongre, Rahul Chakole, Kiran Thakre, Nisha Gupta, Nikkhat Sayyed, Shaina, Balkrushna, Rameshwar and other vendors were present. Proceedings of the program and vote of thanks were proposed by Nilesh Khadse.