Street-Vendors

The pandemic has hit life hard for the Street-Vendors. Long-time street vendors were not allowed to sell their wares including fruits and vegetables during the lockdown as special permission was only given to those sellers who had actual grocery shops.
To make matters worse increasing number of auto-drivers have taken up the job of vending either part-time or full-time and have been selling different commodities. This is because during the lockdown auto-drivers had no customers and were forced to take up the job of vending.
Unfortunately increasing number of street- vendors violates road safety rules especially in non-hawking zones as crowds gather around these vendors thereby creating road congestion and traffic. Social-distancing norms too are not maintained which is essential given the pandemic situation.
However, the Kochi Corporation in 2019 had evicted street vendors without completion of the survey and issuing certificates to vendors which is prohibited and specifically stated in the Street Vendors Act.
The Kochi Corporation Council had failed to implement the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation) Act as the first step the Corporation had to take was to summon the Town Vending Committee as prescribed by the law.
Seeing the current climate the authorities have not taken any action as they know the hardships of the street-vendors. The failure of implementation of the rules and regulations laid down by the Street Vendors Act 2014 has contributed to the uncertainty and hardships faced by the street-vendors.