Data on street vendors to be digitised soon

The Local Government Department is all set to digitise the data on street vendors across the state, under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

Nearly 87,000 street vendors would be able to register themselves under the Act, to be implemented in all 167 urban local bodies (ULBs) of the state. The Local Government Department has already notified the Punjab Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Rules, 2015, under the Act.

After being issued licences, the street vendors would be rehabilitated in demarcated vending zones in the respective civic bodies. As the department is relying on surveys carried out by the respective ULBs in 2016 and 2017, the total tally of the beneficiaries is expected to go up as the civic bodies have to conduct a survey every five years.

Officials said 21,725 mobile and stationary vendors were identified by the Ludhiana MC, whereas the actual figure was nearly 30,000. In case of the Mohali MC, the survey had identified 990 vendors, whereas the figure stood around 1,300.

The registered vendors were being given smart cards containing biometric data, licences and certificates.