LS nod to bill to protect rights of urban street vendors

Lok Sabha on Friday passed a bill to regulate street vending activities and protect the rights of urban street vendors, including against harassment by police and municipal authorities. Winding up the debate on the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012, housing and urban poverty alleviation minister Girija Vyas said the legislation would protect the rights of those ‘who could not express their feelings and could not open their hearts’. ‘At present around 2 per cent of the population is involved in street vending activity and this figure is likely to reach 2.5 per cent in a few years,’ she said, adding the proposed legislation will allow them to earn their livelihood without fear. 

The bill provides for security and protection of livelihood to all street vendors having a vending certificate to be issued by the Town Vending Committee.