In a first, ₹1.18-cr smart street vending zone to come up in Ludhiana
The Ludhiana MC’s finance panel, in its latest meeting held on Wednesday, approved the work order for setting up the first smart street vending zone in the city on Hambran road.
Hanging fire for over eight years, the municipal corporation (MC) has finally taken an initiative to further the project to establish street vending zones in the city.
The civic body’s finance and contracts committee (F and CC), in its latest meeting held on Wednesday, approved the work order for setting up the first smart street vending zone in the city on Hambran road.
The zone, set to accommodate as many as 95 vendors, will be established at the vacant government land opposite sub-registrar’s office (Ludhiana West) at a cost of ₹1.18 crore. The civic body will establish sheds at the site and proper arrangements of dustbins, toilets and facilities will also be ensured under the project.
Roadside vendors on Hambran road and adjoining areas are expected to be accommodated in the vending zone in exchange for a certain fee.
Municipal additional commissioner, Aaditya Dachalwal said the finance committee has given the approval and work order will be issued to the contractor soon for commencing civil works at the site.
Future of other vending zones still in limbo
While the project to establish one smart vending zone has been approved under the Smart City Mission, the future of the project to establish vending zones across the city remains in limbo.
Aimed at helping remove encroachments done by street vendors on roadsides — as these create bottlenecks and become a hurdle in smooth flow of traffic — especially in the markets of the city, the project has not seen any development in the two years have elapsed since the local bodies department notified 64 vending zones in the city.
Now, the officials are claiming a number of the sites earlier selected by the department have been deemed inappropriate and fresh surveys are being conducted to set-up the vending zones in the city.
Street vendor associations, meanwhile, have also been demanding the establishment of the zones, claiming that it will put an end to the unnecessary harassment faced by them at the hands of MC officials during anti-encroachments drives.