The capital city of Shillong continues to struggle with the age-old problem of hawkers, particularly in Khyndailad, Motphran and Laitumkhrah. These locations, renowned for their bustling markets, experience constant congestion due to the hawkers, with heavy crowds on pavements and lanes throughout the year. The issue is acute, if not dangerous, inconvenience.
The State government has decided to carry out the relocation process of street vendors from Khyndailad in the first phase with permits being issued to around 200 vendors to carry out their trade to the upper floor MUDA shopping complex. The shifting, which is to be complete by July 22, is only for vendors with a Certificate of Vending (COV) issued by the Town Vending Committee while those without the certificate have been directed to vacate Khyndailad not later June 24.
But scenes of chaos erupted on Monday when authorities decided to crackdown on vendors without the COV, issued between June 2 to June 19 as per provisions of the Meghalaya Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Scheme 2023 read with the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014. What could have been a sensible check of these licenses turned out to be a hullabaloo.
What brought the chaos is the forced eviction carried out by the Shillong Municipal Board, who had to also seek assistance from the police. If those without COV are not forcefully evicted what else the authorities will resort to when a notice has been issued. Those without a COV would not budge while taking shelter in the commotion failing to take social responsibility. Those with the certificate don’t want to shift citing flaws that should be rectified by the provisional town vending committee (PTVC) by conducting an insitu survey of eligible hawkers and street vendors so that genuine hawkers don’t lose their right.
Hawkers have the right to earn their livelihood and play a very important role by providing employment and income and other aspects. Understanding this, the government agreed to implement the Act with the cooperation of the hawkers’ association and various stakeholders. This time it’s not about a protest against shifting but who are those to be shifted. Therefore, to clear doubts the government has to make the names and photos of licensed street vendors and hawkers public or explore digital solutions, like mobile apps, to manage and track hawkers to identify genuine hawkers and manage vending permits.
While street hawkers and vendors have almost understood that they can’t take over footpaths and public roads, the government just needs an inch or more to enforce the rule of law and bring order because no one can just spill over to the narrow city streets.
