Of a total of 10,930 registered vendors, only 2,345 are operating in the city. Among all states/UTs, Chandigarh has the lowest percentage (21.45) of registered street vendors, who are operating under vending IDs.
This was revealed in a reply tabled in the ongoing Rajya Sabha session.
The Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu has the second lowest percentage of 23.52 of the total vendors covered under the survey. The UT had issued licences to 1,853 vendors. However, only 436 licensed vendors are operating at present.
Jammu and Kashmir also has one of the lowest registered street vendors operating (26 per cent), out of the total registered vendors. Of the 23,694 registered vendors, only 6,396 are operating there at present.
In the neighbouring state of Punjab, 32.72 per cent (48,551/1,48,342), in Haryana, 29.77 per cent (26,681/89,618) and in Himachal Pradesh, 68.45 per cent (4,131/6,035) of the total registered vendors are operating at present, as per the data.
In Chandigarh, the local Municipal Corporation had earlier stated that of a total of 10,920 registered street vendors, 7,424 were not paying vending fee on a regular basis, and more surprisingly, 2,410 have never paid any amount since they were registered in April 2018.
These vendors may soon lose their licences as the Town Vending Committee (TVC) has given approval to starting the proceedings for the same. They will be served a final notice. Their licences will be cancelled if they still failed to clear their dues.
According to the MC, of the 10,920 registered street vendors, there are 2,608 non-essential service providers (NESP), who have not been allotted any site so far. Every registered vendor is liable to pay a monthly vending fee by the 10th of every month.
Many vendors could not pay fee during Covid, while the others chose not to pay as they did not find the allotted sites commercially viable.
Fee defaulters
Of a total of 10,920 registered street vendors in Chandigarh, 7,424 were not paying vending fee on a regular basis. More surprisingly, 2,410 have never paid any amount since they were registered in April 2018. Some cited Covid and others commercially unviable vending sites.
