Law soon to provide livelihood rights to street vendors

The government said Tuesday it is planning to bring a new law to provide livelihood rights and social security to vendors and hawkers in cities and towns across the country.

Stating this in the Lok Sabha, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Minister Ajay Maken said the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012, was introduced in house on Sep 6 this year.

The bill has been referred to the Standing Committee on Urban Development for examination, Maken said in a written reply.

Maken said that support to urban street vendors has been proposed as a component under the proposed National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), which would enable vendors to get credit, micro-enterprise development support and skill enhancement, according to a statement.

On the action plan to check harassment of vendors by police and civic officials, the minister stated that according to a clause of the proposed bill, no street vendor who sticks to rules can be prevented from vending activities. - IANS