60% Surat street vendors want ID card, own space

Having sensed the need for security of earning, majority of the vendors in Surat have shown willingness to get identity cards and designated space to do their business. The Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) University conducted a study titled ‘Vendors and Informal Sector- A Case Study of Street Vendors of Surat City’. The study suggests that 60% of the total vendors expect space with licence ID, 8% expect space with basic facilities like water and sanitation, 5% want only licence ID while a few of them expect only basic civic facility from the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).

The findings were taken from a sample of 325 vendors from different locations under the jurisdiction of SMC. The study highlights that half of the vendors reported harassment by authorities, one third faced problem of eviction and a few of them faced conflict with pedestrians, confiscation of goods and extortion by authorities.   

The working paper by Prof CN Ray and Aseem Mishra of CEPT states that the city has a huge number of vegetable vendors, followed by those selling fruits and cooked food. An observation made in the paper states that three zones have about 100 vendors per sq km while there are about 97,009 on a total area of about 97 sq m. The remaining part of the city, taking 35 as the average number, is expected to have about 8,017 vendors. Thus, according to these calculations, the city has a total of 17,717 vendors, states the paper.

“As most vendors have shown willingness for photo identity card during the primary survey, these can be issued to all of them. These ID cards can mention the activity type and location of hawking space, besides the bio-data of the vendor. For this purpose, a nominal fee can be collected by the ward vending committee of registered hawkers. It can also stop more vendors to operate in the near future,” the paper suggests.    

The paper also recommends that on-site infrastructure guidelines needs to be followed by the SMC. The civic body needs to incorporate provision of the National Policy for Street Vendors and provision of the Development Plan. It further states that the infrastructure at vending areas needs to have garbage collection and solid waste disposal, public toilets and sanitation for vendors, electricity, gas and water supply networks apart from on-site storage facility.  

The migrant street vendors are mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra and are engaged in selling vegetable, fruit, stationary, bag, cosmetics, etc.