The Meghalaya and Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers and Street Vendors Association met Chief Secretary, Rebecca V Suchiang to submit and discuss modalities of implementation of the Central law on Hawking and Street Vending.
This meeting was held yesterday in light of the recent stand taken by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs on the subject Implementation of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee found that the provisions of Meghalaya’s state law on hawking was repugnant to the Central Act and recommended that the Meghalaya government should notify the rules for the Central Act at the earliest.
“The association feels a sense of victory that their long struggle to ensure rule of law has been recognized,” social activist Angela Rangad said on behalf of the hawkers.
Stating that the association had since 2016 petitioned the state government to implement the Central Act, she said, “Unfortunately, several Urban Affairs ministers and Chief Secretaries chose to remain indifferent to the legally sound demands of the association resulting in the loss of precious time in better organising Shillong city such that it becomes an inclusive city that supports life for all.”
Rangad said that it is sad that the government of Meghalaya has once again been caught on the legal backfoot by the Union government. “This situation could have been avoided if the bureaucracy and the political class had listened to the local voices,” she said and demanded the implementation of the Central act.
Meanwhile the association has once again submitted a detailed draft rules and schemes under the central act as well as detailed plans for a survey, calculation of the holding capacity, lawful identification of vending zones.
